Solutions to Urban Flooding and the Heat Island

Scientists have warned of higher temperatures and an increase in peak rainfall events due to climate variability.

The recent low pressure storm along the eastern seabord of Australia reinforces those warnings.

What is also clearly reinforced from the storm outcomes is that the existing storm water systems in QLD, NSW, VIC and TAS do not manage the peak rainfall events efficiently. This mismanagement results in financial loss, infrastructure damage, social tragedy and disruption which can be avoided if governments adopt a new paradigm for urban planning which incorporates green roofs, rain gardens, urban forests, infiltration pits and street swales. These measures will detain and retain large volumes of urban runoff during the initial stages of a peak rain event. These measures absorb water into the deep soil profile beneath our cities to feed the natural water table. The existing paradigm for stormwater management has been designed to direct urban runoff from the predominance of hard surfaces such as concrete roads, fooltpaths, rooftops and plazas into a 'grey stormwater system' which is limited, inefficient, outdated, requires constant maintenance and will not exponentially expand with a growing urban area. Population increases require urban expansion with more hard surfaces collecting higher volumes of water for a system designed for the climatic conditions and urban areas of the 20thCentury. 

Governments in Australia have the opportunity to address urban planning problems now. There are many case studies on international cities which provide the solutions for preventive sustainable planning and they all provide quantifiable and qualifiable data which supports a new paradigm of urban planning strtegies which incorporate vegetated systems. The economic rationale is sound, the environmental benefits are innumerable and the improvements to urban liveability and social wellbeing are overdue. The technology and the data are available for government policy makers to act immediately.

It's unfortunate that our world is now moving so fast because a significant national event which gains such high news exposure will be quickly forgotten in a few days and no solutions will eventuate ... or will they.

Help Green Roofs Australasia keep this solution on the table by supporting us with your membership. In summer we will state the same case for vegetative systems to reduce urban heat island effects and in the following winter we will endorse the same case to mitigate urban flooding untill we have a new paradigm for sustainable planning and development!!! Plants are the solution... it's that simple.

Matt Dillon (President, GRA / EVP, World Green Infrstructure Network)