Stormwater Management: WaterUps and Bera Solutions
There is an increasing demand for sustainable water management in urban environments. This post outlines the processes of WSUD, highlighting how WaterUps systems are an excellent solution to achieve resilient and environmentally conscious developments.
In a residential WSUD-integrated system, rainfall is intercepted as it lands on impervious surfaces such as rooftops. The roof acts as a primary catchment surface, redirecting precipitation towards a controlled collection point. This initial step reduces the volume of stormwater runoff entering the urban drainage network and begins the process of on-site water retention.
Irrigation water from the tank is directed into the inlet points of various WSUD-compatible landscape elements: Tree Reservoirs, Raised Rarden Beds, and Sub-irrigation Channels.
Reusing rainwater for Irrigation
The stored stormwater is used to fill up WaterUps wicking reservoirs, which are embedded below garden beds, tree plantings, and other vegetated features. These reservoirs function via capillary action, drawing water upward from a subsoil water reservoir into the root zone. This method minimises loss of water through evaporation, and provides consistent soil moisture to vegetation, supporting plant health and avoiding hydraulic stress of plants.
Excess water from the tank can also directed into a BERA Water-Fix Ball pit, which functions as a subsurface stormwater retention and infiltration system. The geometric structure of the water-fix balls enhances void space and water detention capacity, allowing stored water to percolate slowly into the surrounding soil profile, thereby promoting deep soil infiltration, reducing surface runoff and encouraging baseflow recharge to local groundwater systems.
The inclusion of BERA Gravel-Fix enhances the permeability of the subsurface. This modular gravel stabiliser maintains soil structure while allowing water to infiltrate the ground efficiently. This supports: aquifer recharge, reduction of impervious surface impacts, and restoration of natural hydrological pathways.
The BERA Grass-Fix layer integrates vegetated cover over stable yet porous surfaces. This element delivers multiple WSUD benefits. Including supporting evapotranspiration, which contributes to microclimate regulation, reduced urban heat island effect through increased shading and latent heat exchange, as well as slowing surface runoff, allowing for infiltration.
Rain Gardens
Also known as bio retention systems, rain gardens are vegetated depressions designed to intercept, store, and treat stormwater runoff. As water enters, it temporarily ponds and slowly infiltrates through engineered soil media. This process allows for sedimentation of suspended solids, filtration of nutrients and heavy metals through the root zone and bioactive soil layers, and biological uptake by plants and microorganisms. These gardens restore aspects of the natural water cycle, helping to reduce runoff volumes and improve water quality. They are becoming increasingly important in water sensitive urban design. In the next blog we will look at rain gardens in detail and discuss how they can be optimised.
