International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—The primary purpose of the Conventional Drainage System (CDS) is flood management; its primary focus is the rapid collection of stormwater runoff from all impervious surfaces and its discharge into the nearby water systems. Therefore, the system overlooks important utilization of stormwater as a valuable water resource. On the other hand, Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) – an Australian innovation of sustainable urban water cycle management, is a decentralized stormwater management tool that aims to minimise hydrological impacts of urban development on the surrounding environments. A Hybrid Drainage System (HDS) is the combination of CDS and WSUD technologies. CDS and infiltration based WSUD technologies were designed using DRAINS and Argue’s source control principles respectively for stage 1 of the Strathalbyn Residential Sub-division Project, which is located 60 km southeast of Adelaide CBD and consists of 55 residential allotments. Costings of CDS and WSUD technologies for 20 years life cycle were estimated using Rawlinson’s Construction Handbook and a MUSIC (Model of Urban Stormwater Improvement Conceptualization), respectively. Historical water utility price was collected from SA Water to quantify the economic benefits of HDS. The benefit cost analysis of the designed technologies of HDS was performed using net present value, benefit cost ratio and internal rate of return and found that HDS is economically feasible for the project site. Results from monthly basis continuous simulations of three most critical rainfall events (December 1992, June 2005 and June 2012) show that HDS is also capable of reducing the flooding risk. Therefore, HDS could be the solution of everyday problems of stormwater management – quantity control (flood management), quality control (pollution management) and stormwater harvesting.

Index Terms—Hybrid drainage system, technical analysis, economic benefits, flood management, stormwater management.

The authors are with School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Australia (e-mail: FaisalAhammed.Ahammed@unisa.edu.au).

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Cite: Faisal Ahammed, Christian Somerville, Fergus Hamilton, and Robert Beardwell, "Techno-Economic Analysis of Hybrid Drainage Systems in South Australia," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 412-416, 2017.