4th March 2023
Streets can be places of plants, trees and biodiversity when they include planters and green verges, trees and parklets. Such streets are cooler in the summer and help absorb heavy rainfall. Meristem Design who design street features such as parklets and rain gardens, comments ‘In urban areas, we use many non-permeable materials (such as our roads). This means that water cannot drain naturally through the ground. In order to manage this, we have developed drainage systems that use pipes and sewers to redirect water. Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) modify surface water flow at more natural rates, reducing the impact of urbanisation flooding by allowing vegetation and plants to absorb the majority of the rainwater. Too much surface rainwater in our cities often leads to a rising water table, causing our riverbanks to overflow and leads to devastating floods and damage to nearby properties. With climate change creating wetter winters and more frequent rainfalls, the level of surface water available will only increase, making the traditional drainage methods less and less effective. Creating rain gardens across our cities and towns is one part of the solution to this problem:https://www.meristemdesign.co.uk/suds-planters-rain-gardens
The Green Tau 