Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and

Integrated Constructed Wetlands (ICW)

The Greater Dublin Strategic Drainage Study (GDSDS) was completed in 2005 and involved the
seven Local Authorities of the Greater Dublin Area. The study carried out an in depth
assessment of the Dublins drainage system. In addition to the extensive analysis of the drainage
systems and the data collection that was carried out, the output also provided five policy
documents. One of these was an Environmental Policy, a second dealt with drainage of New
Developments and a third on Climate Change. These three documents focused on the design
approach and criteria for new drainage. The objective of these three policy documents was to
ensure that any future development did not continue the trend towards increasing flooding in the
city and pollution of the rivers.
Drainage design in the past has been extremely simple using a rational method to size pipes to
ensure that surface water is removed as quickly as possible to ensure flooding does not take
place. Unfortunately this philosophy is flawed as, in transferring the surface water downstream,
it provides the potential for flooding of other areas subject to the capacity further down the
system. In addition the pollution in the wash-off from the urban environment is conveyed into
the natural environment.
To provide an alternative method of drainage which does not have these failings therefore
requires a completely new approach. Best Management Practices (BMPs) is a commonly used
term throughout the world that refers to this new approach to drainage. For some reason this
term is not used in UK and Ireland, possibly because the term drainage is not included. In the
UK and Ireland this practice is referred to as Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS).
SuDS can best be summarised as offering a total solution to rainwater management while
traditional drainage can be considered as only providing a collection and disposal approach.

SuDs also applies in the rural environment. The Water Framework Directive sets out the
framework for achieving good status in all our rivers in Ireland. In the Eastern River Basin
District 80% of our rivers are below good status. Currently most of the rural pollution comes
from underperforming small treatment plants, overloaded communal septic tanks, clusters of
single unit septic tanks, farmyard runoff and runoff from slurries spread on land.
In Ireland over the past 10 years, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of DEHLG has been
uniquely developing a more robust and sustainable approach to the use of constructed wetlands.
Categorised as surface-flow type wetlands they are similar to natural free surface water wetlands.
Their holistic approach termed Integrated Constructed Wetland (ICW) has been successfully

applied to deal with a range of effluent types - farmyard runoff, industrial waste and sewage as
well as urban pollution.
The concept is based upon the free surface-flow of water through a series of sequential linked
shallow ponds vegetated with a range of emergent plant species. An ICW has often a long
retention time of up to 90-100 days and it can be designed in many instances to have zero surface
discharge. Its diversity of plant species facilitates microbial and animal diversity and is
generally more appealing for recreation and amenity. Due to the slow movement of water
through the ponds suspended matter is deposited, and there is adequate time for both aerobic and
anaerobic digestion of organic matter. There is good reduction of nitrates and phosphates which
are generally greater than 95%. Reduction of faecal indicators is of the order of 99% due to the
long retention times and the complex ecology of the aquatic system. ICWs also remove
endocrine disrupters such as oestrogen and testosterone which are poorly removed with
conventional wastewater treatment systems. An ICW effectively creates the important nexus
between quality, quantity and amenity in a way that no other traditional Sewerage Treatment
Works can.

This website lists a number of articles and papers on SuDs and ICWs. Dublin City Council
commissioned HR Wallingford to develop the www.irishsuds.com web site to provide all the
necessary information on SuDS and drainage design criteria and to make information as easily
accessible as possible. In addition guidance on the application of the design criteria and two online tools are provided on the website free of charge. Using this website provides assistance on
designing surface water drainage systems. A comprehensive list of hyperlinked web sites are
attached to this www.irishsuds.com web site.

Sumber:
http://www.dublincity.ie/WATERWASTEENVIRONMENT/WATERPROJECTS/Pages/Sustain
ableDrainageSystems%28SuDS%29andIntegratedConstructedWetlands%28ICW
%29.aspx