Water
Cities should be built to store, use and recycle water. As few drains as possible should take water out of cities for disposal elsewhere. You can find some examples of water run off control systems which can be used to prevent flooding, these are a natural way of removing water. Patrick Geddes, the first European to use the term ‘landscape architecture’ in its modern sense put this very well: ‘drains are for cities, not cities for drains’. The implied approach is now called an aspect of Low-Impact Development (LID)
urban stormwater drainage systems. In the UK they are known as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). The approach is not new. The island of Delos, which has some of the oldest classical houses in Greece, were built with storage tanks for rainwater beneath their courtyards. From Roman times onward cities were built with aqueducts to supply fresh water and drains to remove foul water. And that includes the water that travels down your own drainage system. If this becomes blocked at any time, then this will prevent the flow and that is when you may be obligated to contact someone similar to these drainage companies north east to get the foul water flowing away from your home once again. We need to turn the clock back so that cities can have more streams, rivers, ponds and lakes.
This also goes for any other city as urbanisation increases over the years, any country and any continent. It can be a problem anywhere you go. That’s where plumbers step in. Drainage doesn’t usually come to mind as one of the top jobs of a plumbing company but they are the professionals in this sector, and drainage of course is a very important part of everyday life now. Without it, we would all be in very damp situations. Plumbing companies have developed over the years to cater to a range of places so that everyone has easy access to their services. For example in Orange County CA, Moffett Plumbing offer their services all over the county, so plumbing issues like drainage blocks can be removed as soon as they are detected. (see www.moffettplumbing.com/areas-we-serve/plumber-laguna-woods-ca/ for more information)
These days we are lucky to have easy access to services, especially in cities where drains can become a problem. London being one of the worst culprits.
London’s proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel , expected to cost between £4bn and £5bn, would not be required if London adopted a Sustainable Urban Drainage policy, embracing both its architecture and its landscape.