Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems in Spain: A Diagnosis

Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) were almost unknown in Spain two decades ago; today, urban drainage in the country is transitioning towards a more sustainable and regenerative management in a global context where green policies are gaining prominence. This research establishes a diagnosis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2021-03, Vol.13 (5), p.2791
Main Authors: Andrés-Doménech, Ignacio, Anta, Jose, Perales-Momparler, Sara, Rodriguez-Hernandez, Jorge
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Climate change
Diagnosis
Drainage systems
Hydrology
Innovations
Literature reviews
Political factors
Runoff
Social perception
Stormwater management
Sustainability
Urban drainage
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) were almost unknown in Spain two decades ago; today, urban drainage in the country is transitioning towards a more sustainable and regenerative management in a global context where green policies are gaining prominence. This research establishes a diagnosis of SUDS in Spain and examines the extent to which the country is moving towards the new paradigm in three dimensions: (a) the governance and social perception of the community, (b) the regulative background, and (c) the implementation and the technical performance of SUDS. The diagnosis identifies barriers that hinder the change. Then, we define the challenges that Spain has to face to overcome obstacles that delay the transition. Barriers to the governance sphere are related to the lack of involvement, knowledge, and organisational responsibilities. Within the regulative framework, the absence of national standards hinders the general implementation at the national scale, although few regional and local authorities are taking steps in the right direction with their own regulations. From the technical perspective, SUDS performance within the Spanish context was determined, although some shortcomings are still to be investigated. Despite the slowdown caused by the hard recession periods and the more recent political instability, SUDS implementation in Spain is today a fact, and the country is close to reaching the stabilisation stage.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su13052791