Work

Hydrologic Efficiency of Rain Gardens as Countermeasures to Overuse of Concrete in Historical Public Spaces

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The overuse of concrete in historical areas, currently observed in various urban watersheds in Poland, may pose a significant threat to the water balance of catchments, leading even to pluvial flooding. The distorted water balance may be, to some extent, restored by sustainable green architecture designs. This paper presents an attempt at the numerical assessment of changes in the water balance caused by revitalization in three main historical squares in cities in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. A proposal for rain garden installation, allowing the partial restoration of the water balance, is also introduced. Numerical calculations of the runoff generation were performed in SWMM 5 software for real weather conditions recorded in Lublin during the period 1 June–31 August 2024. The performed simulations show that an increase in the imperviousness of the studied urban catchments results in a significant increase in runoff characteristics, with a 78.2–90.9% increase in volume and a 108–141.7% increase in peak flows. The introduction of the proposed rain gardens allows the partial reduction in the runoff volume and peak flows, down by 18.1–30.2% and 17.9–32.0%, respectively.

Source: Sustainability

DOI: 10.3390/su17062527

Authors: Marcin K. Widomski, Anna Musz-Pomorska

Institution: Lublin University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Urban Stormwater Management Solutions

Subfield: Environmental Engineering

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Clean water and sanitation, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896