Local Level Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse: A Practical Solution to the Water Security Challenges Faced by Urban Trees

Peter Nichols; Terry Lucke

doi:10.3390/su7078635

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Local Level Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse: A Practical Solution to the Water Security Challenges Faced by Urban Trees

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Local Level Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse: A Practical Solution to the Water Security Challenges Faced by Urban Trees

Peter Nichols and Terry Lucke

Sustainability, Vol.7(7), pp.8635-8648

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su7078635

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Abstract

stormwater detention

stormwater re-use

urban trees

WSUD

drought

water security

hydraulic redistribution

wicking

Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) treatment devices are often used to restore natural drainage properties in developed catchments. WSUD can make positive contributions to the restoration of natural ecosystem processes, by supporting trees and habitats in urban areas without taking up limited urban space. This paper reports on the development and testing of a new WSUD device, the Wicking Tank. It is designed to supply sufficient volumes of water to urban trees through periods of drought via synthetic wicks from an underground storage tank to support adequate tree health. Relying on gravity fed stormwater, and the natural capillarity, adhesion, and cohesion properties of water and the process of hydraulic redistribution, water is transferred from the tank and into the rhizosphere of the tree. Water demand is controlled passively by the water potential differential across the root zone. Proof of concept testing of the Wicking Tank has shown the device to successfully draw water into soil to support the ongoing survival of a potted plant for over 20 weeks. Substantial differences are anticipated between this proof of concept test and an in-situ field trial. A field-based demonstration style version of the Wicking Tank is planned for construction and testing in 2015.

Details

Title: Local Level Stormwater Harvesting and Reuse: A Practical Solution to the Water Security Challenges Faced by Urban Trees
Authors: Peter Nichols (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Terry Lucke (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
Publication details: Sustainability, Vol.7(7), pp.8635-8648
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2015
DOI: 10.3390/su7078635
ISSN: 2071-1050
Copyright note: Copyright © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99449378502621
Output Type: Journal article

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