Project Head:
Aicha Vack
Project Team:
Aicha Vack
Gunter Vogt
Funding:
City of Wiesbaden
Duration:
1996
Field of research
Research Area:
water
about the Institute
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Decentralized stormwater infiltration has numerous positive effects on the urban
ecology. For example, the pollution of rivers caused by the discharge of so-called
combined waters, which occurs when stormwater is diverted into sewers after a heavy
rainfall (the sewage plant being overloaded), can be prevented. In addition, the ground
water economy can be stabilized, the city's climate locally improved and the city's
landscape improved by enhancing the status of the use of stormwater as a creative element
in the city (e.g., for creating moist biotopes). However, complicated hydogeological
conditions, limited ground permeability, poor maintenance of drainage facilities and
areas, and harmful substances in precipitation can lead to a situation in which a
decentralized stormwater can cause unwanted side effects, such as the soaking of
buildings. An important aspect of a comprehensive, yet safe, stormwater, therefore, is
the differentiation between appropriate and inappropriate locations. A systematic, and
area-wide, evaluation of the suitability of locations for infiltration shows that
considerable potential exists for a decentralized stormwater even in cities with
problematic hydrogeological conditions. The ISOE evaluated the suitability for drainage of
areas within the Wiesbaden city limits based on consideration of hydrogeological
conditions, the situation of harmful substances, and currently used infiltration
facilities, and made recommendations for turning these evaluations into statutes.
Moreover, the report also estimates how much stormwater can be withheld from the sewage
plant and, instead infiltrated, when the potential for stormwater analyzed in the report
is translated into appropriate measures. On the basis of this report, the city wants to
create a stormwater statute; a plan having the character of a pilot project for the State
of Hesse.
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