Valencia promotes urban spaces that filter 100% of rainwater

VALENCIA, 16 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) enabled in different locations in the Ciudad Fallera neighborhood, in the Benicalap district, allow up to 100% of rainwater to be managed and filtered. This is clear from the study of the pilot initiative developed by Las Naves, in the European GrowGreen project, to adapt urban spaces in order to mitigate the effects of climate change.

These systems have been developed in a vertical garden installed at the Ciudad Fallera Early Childhood and Primary Education School (CEIP), on the green roof of the Benicalap Senior Center and in two "larger" locations: the urban environment of the street del Foc and Regino Más square, where a blue-green corridor has been designed.

They have also been installed in a continuous area in the Benicalap Park, which has gone from being a disused lot to becoming a sustainable forest of 5,273 square meters, "full of vegetation and intended for the use of citizens", highlighted the City Council in a statement.

The report on the monitoring of these last two areas, carried out by the University Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (UPV), has made it possible to verify that the pavement and permeable soil installed in both areas has demonstrated high efficiency.

These SUDS structures facilitate the reduction in the green corridor area of ​​the total volumes of runoff that reaches the sewer (between 66% and 100%) and the maximum flows (between 37% and 100%).

The UPV study highlights, in addition to the high filtration capacity of SUDS, that they also achieve high efficiency in the retention of contaminating substances, in percentages ranging from 65% to 100%.

As for the forest, water management efficiency has also reached 100%. The very design of the space also facilitates the management of rainfall. A studied topography has been combined so that runoff directs water towards the different SUDS and bioretention systems have been used, such as three infiltration basins connected in a cascade. All this, to "facilitate the management and saving of water."

The grove also has "other benefits", given that the different plant species planted offset the neighborhood's CO2 emissions and were consulted during the project participation process, where the neighborhood was involved. This vegetation reduces exposure to solar radiation and has improved the thermal stress of the area, also favoring the presence of animals and increasing the biodiversity of the area.

The Councilor for Innovation, Paula Llobet, has stated that "the inclement weather resulting from climate change increasingly causes a greater volume and intensity of rainfall."

In this sense, he highlighted that the city of Valencia, "affected by this circumstance, works within the strategy of the 2030 Climate Mission, in initiatives that study and test solutions to address, among other issues, this problem and seek efficiency and "use of rainwater, even that which, with increasing frequency, is produced torrentially".

"In this context, these pilot actions are fundamental in the search, research and testing of new ways to confront the consequences of climate change. It is necessary that we provide solutions that allow us to adapt, and that our city is at the forefront of this mission ", has added.