Everything about Storm Drain totally explained
A
storm drain,
storm sewer (
U.S.),
stormwater drain (
Australia and
New Zealand) or
surface water system (
UK) is designed to
drain excess
rain and
ground water from paved streets,
parking lots,
sidewalks, and roofs. Storm drains vary in design from small residential
dry wells to large municipal systems. They are fed by
street gutters on most
motorways, freeways and other busy roads, as well as towns in areas which experience heavy rainfall,
flooding and
coastal towns which experience regular
storms.
Storm drains should be separate from sanitary
sewers, though in some places the runoff from storm drains is subjected to
sewage treatment when there's sufficient capacity to spare. In the U.S. these systems are called
combined sewers. In these systems a sudden large rainfall that exceeds sewage treatment capacity will be allowed to overflow directly from the storm drains into receiving waters via structures called
combined sewer overflows.
Most drains have a single large exit at their point of discharge (often covered by a
grating) into a
canal,
river,
lake,
reservoir, sea or
ocean. They spread out into smaller branches as they reach up into their
catchment area.
Small storm drains may discharge into individual
dry wells. Storm drains may be interconnected using slotted pipe, to make a larger dry well system. Storm drains may discharge into man-made excavations known as recharge basins.
Pipes can come in many different shapes (rectangular, square, bread loaf shaped, oval and, more commonly, circle) and have many different features (including
waterfalls, stairways, balconies and pits for catching rubbish or Gross Pollutant Traps (GPTs). Several different materials can also be used, such as
brick,
concrete and even
plastic in some cases.
Building codes vary greatly on the handling of storm drain runoff. New developments might be required to construct their own storm drain processing capacity for returning the runoff to the
water table and
bioswales may be required in sensitive ecological areas to protect the
watershed.
An international
subculture has grown up around the exploration of stormwater drains. Societies such as the
Cave Clan regularly explore the drains underneath cities. This is commonly known as '
urban exploration', but is also known as 'draining' when in specific relation to storm drains.
Ancient history
Archaeological studies have revealed use of rather sophisticated
stormwater runoff systems in ancient cultures. For example, in
Minoan Crete approximately 4000 years before present, cities such as
Phaistos were designed to have storm drains and channels to collect precipitation runoff. At Cretan
Knossos storm drains include stone lined structures large enough for a man to crawl through. Other examples of early civilizations with elements of stormwater drain systems include early people of
Mainland Orkney such
Gurness and the
Brough of Birsay in
Scotland.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Storm Drain'.
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