A Study on Implementation of Low Impact Development as an Urban Stormwater Management Technique in Srinagar City: Current Trends, Issues and Challenges

Abstract

Abstract: The Severity as well as the frequency of short-duration, but damaging, urban area floods have increased in recent years across the world. Alteration to the urban micro-climate due to global climate change impacts may also exacerbate the situation in the near future. The events of floods have increased in Srinagar city as well over the past decades. Sustainable urban stormwater management using low impact development (LID) techniques, along with conventional urban stormwater management systems, can be implemented to mitigate climate-change-induced flood impacts in Srinagar. In this study, the supposed effectiveness of LIDs in the mitigation of urban flood in Srinagar city is analysed keeping in view their limitations at the same time. A critical research on the success of these techniques in urban flood mitigation planning in Srinagar city is also recommended. On summarising different LID approaches in the world, the results revealed that LIDs can be an efficient method for mitigating urban flood impacts. Most of the LID devices developed so far, however, are found to be effective only for small flood peaks. The major challenges include identification of the best LID practices for the region of interest, efficiency improvements in technical areas, and site-specific optimization of LID parameters. Research and improvements in these areas will allow better mitigation of climate-change-induced urban floods in a cost-effective manner and will also assist in the achievement of sustainable development goals for Srinagar city and will help us to tackle the increasing problems of water logging and floods in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Keywords: Climate change, Urban floods, stormwater management, Low Impact Development, Srinagar city, Drainage in Srinagar, Pluvial flooding.