Water retention measures in the urban landscape and their impact on microclimate change

Abstract

Water management in cities and villages is fraught with difficulties. Infrastructure systems that have been in use for a long time are deteriorating. In an urbanised landscape, appropriate rainwater management or blue green infrastructure (RWM or BGI) is the solution. The quality of water management is influenced significantly by urbanization. The higher the influence on the area’s hydrological cycle as an urbanised landscape develops without proper RWM, the greater the impact on the area’s hydrological cycle. The hydrology of the site reflects the changing environment of the area, as trees, meadows, and agricultural land, which captured and absorbed precipitation and created depressions in the area that temporarily held water, are being replaced by urbanised areas on a uniform slope with impermeable areas. Because the goal until recently was to drain rainwater from the urbanised area as rapidly as possible, the altered sites present the prospect of rapid conversion of rainwater into surface runoff of rainwater. The capabilities of currently utilised technical solutions in metropolitan areas, as well as the possibilities of their application, are discussed in this article. The paper focuses on the available literature on rainwater management by Slovak and foreign authors to get insight into the execution of measures in urban settings. The article’s major purpose is to provide appropriate rainwater management measures in the urbanised landscape based on characteristics deriving from the conditions in the study area and current understanding about rainwater management options.