Where Does Stormwater Go?

Rainwater and cities aren't always a good mix, but they can be!
The bundle deal with Curiosity Stream has ended, but you can still get a great discount on Nebula and support Practical Engineering here: go.nebula.tv/practical-engine...
Just like cities represent a colossal alteration of the landscape and thus the natural water cycle, we’re also going through a colossal shift in how we think about rainfall and stormwater and how we value the processes of natural watersheds. Look carefully as you travel through your city and you’ll notice all the different pieces and parts of infrastructure that help manage water during storm events.
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-Website: practical.engineering
Writing/Editing/Production: Grady Hillhouse
Editing and Direction Help: Wesley Crump
This video is sponsored by Nebula.
Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
Source: • Elexive - Tonic and En...
Video supplied by Getty Images.

[@PracticalEngineeringChannel]

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[@starwalkingsage7489]

I recently saw a small ravine in my local park labeled bio-retention area. Not sure how it works. But it seems like it collects the runoff from the park and uses it to promote natural environments for plants small animals and insects in the park. Would love to know the type of engineering that goes into these as well as their real purpose. Also. Love watching your videos. I now have a new respect for the processes that go into development and construction Edit: I also forgot to mention something interesting this retention area is elevated slightly above the road and the park itself but i think i saw a small pipe sticking out of the ground. Assuming that pipe is there (will make sure next time i am there) Do you think this could be assisting in draining the ground water more effectively while also stopping the street runoff from entering the habitat it creates buffering it from the pollutants in the runoff from the road?

[@SomeDumbRandomUser]

Could you maybe in the *next video* explain *how internet-structure* is build? like, how it is managed (eg: germany: under ground, romania: on lamp-posts) and how some companies 'cheated' their way around upgrading the older infrastructure

[@Razz2502]

You should watch the improvements that are made in the Netherlands. In Rotterdam they flood a playground when it rains. And we give room to the river (Ruimte voor de Rivier) so floodplains bring back the ecology in the city.

[@chrisakaschulbus4903]

did an ad really told me that i don't have time for ads? ok.

[@jbtechcon7434]

8:44 When I see deep dips like the flooded, I always wonder why they don't just install a big culvert and flatten the road over it. It might be to expensive in rural places, but we have a flood dip like that in one of the more expensive parts of San Diego.

[@adamm4766]

I think we all owe this guy a huge round of applause for making engineering fun and interesting for everyone and not just the mathematically or technically inclined.

[@Renzsu]

Exactly, not always the most sexy click-guaranteeing subjects, but always done in a captivating manner. I wish some of my university professors had his communication skills.

[@arlandmv4053]

also for providing* knowledge and awesome deals :D

[@satyris410]

How come his voice has changed, didn't he used to be Irish?

[@adamm4766]

@@satyris410 he’s gotten better at editing and recording

[@ralphdabadie4754]

Mandalorian Spoilers Ahead! Hello again! We wanted to give a quick spoiler warning to those of you who haven't yet been able to see last week's new episode for The Mandalorian. Our next video will be focused directly on a major plot point in the episode. As you may have heard, the episode contains a major reveal related to the Star Wars universe. This is a development that was widely reported last May, and several major news sites have speculated broadly about it in the months since. And now, several days after the episode released, Disney has publicly released photos and press releases proclaiming this plot event far and wide. With virtually every Star Wars diehard capable of seeing the episode by now, and news entities with far greater reach than this channel discussing it openly, we feel comfortable releasing a video with this news in the title and thumbnail of the video. That video will upload in the next hour or so. So one final warning: If you have not yet seen the Season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian on Disney+, and you care about getting spoiled, we advise you to take one of the many precautions available to you -- muting notifications, alerts, keywords... or just avoiding KZbin -- to protect yourself from a broadly discussed news story currently happening all over the internet. Thanks!

[@HappyfoxBiz]

"Humans are notoriously bad at assessing risk" understatement of entire human history right there...

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

Come on, we were reasonably good at assessing risks that we evolved to deal with, like when hunting big animal with a spear.

[@SupaDanteX]

My definitely human self has assessed this comment as a risk.

[@constancemiller3753]

Warning labels are just wasted on us.

[@cgmason7568]

The risk was calculated, but man I'm bad at math

[@iankmak]

Humans don't really assess risk at all. They just do what they want to do and then rationalize their choice afterwards. You have people warning others of the potential blood cloth risk of vaccines which is miniscule. A risk nonetheless and if you're risk adverse maybe you think its too high. But often the same people would be smoking, drinking, and driving with their cellphones in their hands. My dad call my stock trades "too risky" meanwhile he is a literal gambling addict who probably gambled away $300-$400k throughout his life.

[@alexsis1778]

Probably one of my favorite ever "driving into a flooded road" was during Hurricane Ike in Houston. The local news channel was showing various traffic cameras of flooded intersections and caught someone in a big lifted pickup truck just driving straight into deep water. He saw some people "walking" in knee deep water and thought he could go through that. Welp, turns out they were standing on top of a bus.

[@sammygg21]

Does that make it a bus stop?

[@UnholyWrath3277]

@@sammygg21 ba dum tsss

[@EdwardSnortin]

@@sammygg21 It definitely turned into a truck stop

[@leokimvideo]

Stormwater goes where IT wants it to go.

[@peterni2234]

WHEEZE

[@Ras548]

Normally Stormwater, like literal everything else on earth, tend to go down wherever it can. You know gravity and stuff.

[@kalliemae1054]

@@Ras548 the joke went wayyy over your head

[@JohnNeville617]

I know you are talking about the character but I first pictured a sys admin channeling water away from server racks as they try to keep 100% uptime.

[@David_Ghimire]

Engineers be like we don't do that here

[@jackansi]

post10 will save us all.

[@awesomedavid2012]

Ah a man of culture I see

[@assortedsubscriptions4012]

post10 Gang!!

[@atorrance]

Yesss! Practical Engineering viewers would love post10’s channel!

[@giovannideiana3754]

Uhhh, Poseidon will accept the challenge, I'm sure

[@wicklash9065]

I was hoping at leadt someone had said it

[@eicartestfile]

In the Netherlands some parks are made deeper than their surroundings so that they can absorb the water during heavy rand and a possible flood of North-Holland. A good example is 'het park van Luna' in Heerhugowaard.

[@crackedemerald4930]

Sir hugo's ward?

[@NoOne-fe3gc]

tried googling the park, misspelled the name, now I have a demon roommate, thanks.

[@maytopian]

@@crackedemerald4930 waard can mean either expensive or landlord

[@pansepot1490]

In northern Italy big rivers have flooding areas surrounded by high banks. In case of need the overflow is directed to those areas.

[@micah_lee]

@@pansepot1490 They have some of those in the US too

[@bigwin2010]

In my area, I see a lot of retention ponds, particularly in areas with newly constructed homes and shopping centers, to prevent run off or excess water flowing into the storm water systems. The problems is that during the summer time, it leads to a stagnant area of dirty water that becomes a natural breeding ground for mosquitoes.

[@KM-rk3ok]

RW harvesting systems should fix that

[@Clickbait86]

Where do u live? I’m in Phoenix and it’s mandatory here to drill holes till it hits ground water. Basically this holes drain the water back to river bottom. It’s illegal to build something without storm water drainage for the reason of dirty water.

[@Inspireflyer]

Use to live right next to one. Beautiful in the morning, but thousands of frogs flood the backyard during rain.

[@Elitecataphract]

@@Clickbait86 That's interesting. It seems like it could lead to untreated water to enter the aquifer. Typically, infiltration does a good job of filtering the water before entering groundwater.

[@Clickbait86]

@@Elitecataphract yes, all drainage wells are built with some sort of filtration system in them and clean and or service as needed with vacuum trucks

[@Mr.Whiskers]

"No one wants to build something on land that can be flooded." Florida

[@173muppet]

*New Orleans has entered the chat*

[@nia7075]

i get what ya sayin

[@donquique1]

Houston says hold my beer.

[@ashiiba]

The Netherlands LOL

[@chrisjct]

New Orleans NYC

[@bdiddy77777]

LID and green stormwater management really is the way to go. In Chicago the TARP system (giant network of tunnels and reservoirs) is turning out to be inadequate. Even though it has a capacity of 10-13 billion gallons. Urban stormwater runoff is just too large to feasibly handle with detention systems. In Philadelphia they have a massive green infrastructure initiative that has a goal to CAPTURE a third of all stormwater runoff by adding green space (roofs, planters, medians, pervious pavement, etc.). To date, they've built nearly 1,100 greened acres and expect to add another 1,300 in the next three years. Targets for stormwater reduction are already exceeded, cutting volume by 1.7 billion gallons. TARP may be an engineering marvel, but it's based on outdated science. Green infrastructure is the best option.

[@St3v3NWL]

Adding more Green in cities is the Dutch way to handle Rain and stormwater as well.

[@Hypercube9]

Perhaps a few trillion Orbeez might help?

[@ervie60]

Rotterdam leads the way!

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

You ever hear about NEWwater process they use in Singapore? They turn raw sewage into the cleanest, purest water and add it to their drinking water supply.

[@ervie60]

@@dickJohnsonpeter Nothing really new. Combination of fliters, reverse osmosis (developed for space; urine into potable water) and UV or microbes to kill off germs. The problem of Singapore is a lack of water. Much like in the middle east, but using desalination plants driven by gasturbines is for use in say Saudi Arabia etc.: no rivers and an abundance of cheap energy. Over here the problem is too much water..go figure LOL Add to all of this a changing climate and threads of one does nothing or opportunities if action is taken.

[@breearbor4275]

i live in a city that was built on wetlands. every few years we have giant floods. they keep paving more land for new subdivisions without any stormdrain solutions, and the floods keep getting worse. go figure!

[@Beelzebubby91]

I think we live in the same place.....

[@JB-tiger]

Houston?

[@Sinyao]

@@JB-tiger That just reminds me of a custom Shadowrun game someone did that took place in his idea of Galveston 100 years from now. Houston and Galveston became half flooded due to global warming and lack of flood prevention, resulting in half the cities being little more than chains of small islands there used to just be hill tops.

[@williamgibb5557]

That is the greedy government wanting more ratables for their pet projects or wasted money payroll! The Piper always gets paid!

[@cindyrusher7964]

Sounds like Lubbock!

[@jamram9924]

In Southern AZ, we route and collect rain water to store it in man made storm water reservoirs to feed the water tables. The gray water is also reused to water public area like parks, golf courses, schools and shopping centers.

[@soupalex]

"channelisation isn't all it's cut out to be; it's ugly, for one" not to mention all the terminators arriving from the future to conduct armed bike/truck chases along them. bloody nightmare, i tell you.

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

When I lived In Ft. Lauderdale years ago, It's basically at sea level and during a very heavy rain I saw 2 storm sewer caps start shaking violently then get blasted about about 3 or 4 feet in the air as a geyser of water shot out. Never saw anything like that before.

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

Super charging of drainage can be a big issue in some areas. Just think though if that were to happen underground the damage that could cause that would go undetected for years.

[@ilikenothingtoo]

In New York they get fired in the air by steam.

[@Yora21]

I grew up in Hamburg in a corner building on a major intersection on the fourth story, which gave you a really great view of the surrounding streets. One of them was quite steep (for Northern Germany), and we lived one intersection from where it crosses a river. I remember a few times that it rained so much that water came gushing out of all the gutter drains.

[@TheShmoey]

Soooo, I heard you're supposed to stand on those for a good time... :p

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

@@TheShmoey I tell my wife to sit for a good time.

[@Ostsol]

"Humans are notoriously bad at assessing risk." Not to mention, we give ourselves incentives to ignore risk. National Flood Insurance in the US is cheap and until 2004 paid for itself, but large disasters in especially vulnerable (ie: high risk) regions has accumulated a large debt.

[@1337fraggzb00N]

Insurance is ok but a little common sense would be better. Building houses from brittle sticks and cardboard and wondering every year why a tornado was able to devastate whole towns does not seem to be the smartest move. I know that these people have to live there for several reasons like the farmland or simply because they enjoy a good tornado once in a while but why don't they build houses with... i don't know... stones? Rumor has it that humans use stones for building since at least a decade.

[@Ostsol]

@@1337fraggzb00N The point with insurance is that it's cost should reflect the risks. Maybe I'm interpreting my search results incorrectly, but it looks like, on average, flood insurance is cheaper in Florida than Arizona -- yet the value of claims over the past two decades is around 125x more in Florida. The low-lying areas of New Orleans should have prohibitive insurance rates, but I doubt that's actually the case.

[@ethanallenhawley1052]

@@Ostsol Sounds about right. It is a welfare scheme to encourage development.

[@austinhernandez2716]

Of course, in the US, capitalism is the problem, and embraced as a part of nationalism and fascism.

[@Ostsol]

@@austinhernandez2716 Nationalised flood insurance is not capitalism. If it were all privatized, the rates would be higher and more likely to dissuade development in regions prone to flooding.

[@jonathanseyfert8256]

The city I used to live in (Janesville, WI) seemed to solved most of its stormwater drainage issues by leaving in place most of the natural drainage that already existed. Probably partially modified as needed. But the result is a series of what they call "Greenways". These are vegetation covered drainage ditches. All this property is owned by the city. Stormwater from the streets is simply piped to the nearest greenway. During large rains, these greenways fill up with water and drain it to the local river. During dry periods, they are pleasant green areas through the city, breaking up the monotonous housing, giving many properties a green area behind their property instead of more houses, and some even have trails mowed through the grass that allow you to walk through them when it's not flooded.

[@gunsofaugust1971]

Wow. That area of the country has been turned into endless fields.

[@johnwyatt8345]

I was working on this project on GeoHECHMS and this really helped me understand the science and knowledge behind stormwater runoff and management. Thanks a lot Practical Engineering, you guys are doing great!

[@lostwizard]

My neighbourhood has a "storm water dry pond" which was planted with native vegetation that is flood and drought tolerant. They spent a decade or so caring for it so it would all get established properly and now it's basically just another natural area. Albeit with signs warning of the flash flooding risk and the usual propaganda signs describing the project. It's actually a fairly nice park area. This seems to be the sort of thing Calgary has been doing for quite a while now.

[@Jamie-tx7pn]

err, propaganda?

[@lostwizard]

@@Jamie-tx7pn "Look at how environmentally conscious the politicians listed below were! We greenlit a thing that might be good for the environment." You know, that sort of thing.

[@krazed9918]

@@lostwizard hey man how am I gonna get re-elected if I don't try to overshadow the sixteen harmful projects I've worked on with the few positive ones?!

[@imthedarknight-8755]

My city has giant dug out grass covered chunks of land that serve as storm drain reservoirs. When it really rains it'll fill up 4-5 feet and had a big ol drain in the middle that slowly releases it

[@robopup1]

the engineering has gone away from dry ponds as they don't supply as good of water treatment as a wet pond. the wet pond has a permanent pool that allow for growth of aquatic plants that help in the treatment of pollutants usually found in the first part of a rainfall event.

[@livingbeings]

I love how many post-10 shoutouts there are in the comments. post10 - practical engineering collab when?

[@LAVERTUEG]

post 10 is officially a legend

[@ryanwaltos2206]

Post10 is a simple man that can outsmart engineers with his physical and practical approach to his ventures

[@benneal3897]

Must be done!

[@mariolisa2832]

I guess i need to look this post guy up then...

[@1945d18]

Speaking as a 38 yr retired civil engineering consultant whose masters thesis was on urban stormwater quality i think you so a fine job of explaining this issue for the general public. Also love your videos on pumps. Takes me back to my working years. Keep up the good work

[@chirina5]

Would a water table be higher if your home is closer to a storm drain?

[@gangsterHOTLINE]

@@chirina5 Really would love to hear a master thesis on urban stormwater quality reply.

[@elslick]

Saw an amazing community that had wetland bog filters attached to thier overflow ponds. The ponds were litterly crystal clear and it made the community look so in tune with nature. It was just a pleasing enviroment

[@peternouwen]

5:42 “No one wants to build on land that can be flooded.” Me, being from The Netherlands: “I have no idea what you’re talking about? 😇” 😂 But seriously: We got a little too good with runoff and the like. So now we’re trying to get it back into the ground. People are encouraged to get soil in their gardens instead of tiling it over entirely, and replenish the groundwater levels again for reserves during heatwaves.

[@DrCJones]

I've seen several comments about this. What's happening in the Netherlands in relation?

[@garret1930]

@@DrCJones the majority of the land in the Netherlands is below sea level.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

> got a little too good with runoff and the like an issue with all developing/developed countries, not just the netherlands.

[@hoi264]

Green roofs help a lot!

[@DrCJones]

@@garret1930 thanks! That's interesting! Looks like there are other countries/places in the same boat...

[@Yora21]

In Germany, we had lots of houses destroyed a major flood in the late 90s. There were many great investments to rebuild destroyed buildings. And a few years later they were destroyed again in the next huge flood. I believe they didn't try to build houses on those plot a third time.

[@leakingamps2050]

That's the difference between the US and Germany

[@crackedemerald4930]

@@leakingamps2050 yea they get floods in the 90's

[@kirknay]

@@crackedemerald4930 No, New Orleans got wiped off the map 5 times so far. People still rebuild there.

[@DrakonIL]

All the other kings said it was daft to build a castle in a swamp, but they built it just the same!

[@MisterNohbdy]

@@kirknay And why wouldn't they, when the government basically subsidizes building in dangerous areas with nonsense like the NFIP?

[@The_Viscount]

Was talking to a woman who works in aqua engineering and one of her favorite options is to use simple brick or cobblestone streets. By using bricks without mortar, plants can grow between the bricks and water can soak into the ground between them. This is a great alternative to permeable concrete for cities in colder regions, and is a tried and true technology.

[@SensSword]

Bricks are a nightmare to drive on in cold climates. The ice and snow fills in the cracks leaving almost no traction.

[@googleuser868]

The freezing and thawing heaves up the bricks. Very rough roads in a few years. Not a good idea.

[@RhodokTribesman]

@@googleuser868 It's fine (and super easy to repair) for sidewalks and walkways, and is often textured to aid in grip. Sidewalks already get heaved up, so having more expansion joints could be a good thing to deal with these thermal cycles

[@DanielinLaTuna]

Very rough roads help slow speeders. I wish my residential street was rougher. We have too many people taking a shortcut through the neighborhood (that’s okay, we all payed for its maintenance) at highway speeds (not okay, have a little respect for the locals, please).

[@marcusbrown188]

This is why women can’t be engineers

[@NylonStrap]

We live in a fairly new neighborhood and I noticed that our neighborhood park is actually acts as a rainwater overflow. They build it like a basin to collect most of the runoff from surrounding streets and it occasionally floods on heavy rain days. The side slopes also work well for sledding on snowy days.

[@Konve]

In 2020 the Terminator would have been riding his bike along a meandering creek, not a concrete runoff.

[@HowlingWolf518]

Unironically, Los Angeles is actually planning to rip up the concrete and make it a river again.

[@mikecowen6507]

@@HowlingWolf518 Oh no! What will Hollywood do for car chase scenes not on a roadway? Seriously, it will be tricky in some areas, as developers have built right to the practical edge of the vertical walled sections.

[@FilthyGaijin]

@potato ohhhh look at Mr misanthropy over here. You forgot to tip your fedora

[@hackmattr]

A lot of the LA river is still concrete, but there are areas where you are now allowed to go and kayak in that look more like a river than a drainage ditch. The water level is usually not high enough though and there's tons of debris in the bottom and in the trees from storms washing away everything in it. I've seen destroyed tents high up in trees in a few of the natural areas.

[@mbainrot]

In australia we have "If it's flooded, forget it" The other danger of submerged road is you can't see if the road/bridge has been washed away. Great video as always mate and thank you!

[@tylerallen8900]

You can't really forget this rule as 40% of the bridges say "road subject to flooding" as well as depth sticks to assist drivers in the real depth of the river.

[@roadie3124]

One place you don't want to take risks is Cahill's Crossing in the NT.

[@the11382]

Flooded bridges? What?

[@fsociety6983]

@@the11382 A bridge flows over water but if the water rises high enough it will then flood the bridge

[@zackjohns323]

As a Storm Water Engineering Tech, I appreciate this video so much. As a kid, I never knew what a catch basin did. I thought it was just a place to hold the sticks I stuffed down there

[@VanillaMacaron551]

I love how you put this in a historical framework, eg we used to do this ... and then an explanation of why we have moved on from that technique. This really helps, in knowing the background to how things have happened in the past and then some info about the latest methods. Thanks for your videos! I'm digging a little drainage trench in my front garden at the moment. The front yard is lower than the road so I was interested in your diagram of how house lots usually angle towards the street. Anyway I call it my "sunken garden". Due to stormwater drains on the block that must date from the 1930s, the front yard rarely floods. You can see why I clicked on your video - currently (ha ha) very interested in stormwater flow. Not to mention we are having a very wet summer here in Brisbane, Australia.

[@anevandyk2]

One of the only KZbinrs that knows how to incorporate sponsorships without annoying his audience.

[@voltaicfire1825]

I think Linus does a good job at that too, his sponsors are always cut in segments but he's mastered the segue.

[@NorthAyase]

I actually watched the ad.

[@ianlangsev5828]

I recently got a job as a water resources project manager for an engineering firm in Minneapolis. We specialize in stormwater mitigation and use many low-impact development strategies for all of our projects. We refer to them as Best Management Practices (BMPs). It's a lot of fun to help better the environment and society as a whole when dealing with water resources. Great video! Thank you for all your educational content, I love watching your channel.

[@BradyT918]

Living in the Zenith city of a 100k+ on the side of a large hill with nearly 2 dozen creeks and rivers makes it always interesting to watch the water when it rains. No matter how hard people try and direct the water, it always does its own thing in the end like busting through the basement of buildings that are build on top of a covered creek.

[@olivesan.]

Having just gone through the Great Queensland Flood of 2022, your videos on hydrology and hydraulic engineering have piqued a great and newfound interest in me. Thankyou for making these.

[@bavondale]

5:03 "these inlets are not just places for clowns to hang out" lol

[@LiyangHU]

Better late than never for a Halloween episode.

[@hcblue]

lmao, I literally rewound a few seconds, thinking I misheard, before realizing the joke.

[@respectbossmon8680]

Yeah, really. That was awesome; made me LOL...I hope I didn't wake anyone up. Uhhh yup....cats....crunchie time...later.

[@christopherdesiderati5344]

Love the IT reference

[@turkeybowlwinkle4440]

LOL, took me a while to get the IT reference. Must be I'm getting old.

[@MrSchumisingh]

Incidentally watching this on a heavy rain day here at Washington State and was thinking about the same topic!

[@alexross4362]

Also in Washington State, I'm thinking about how amazing most of Western WA is at absorbing large amounts of rain.

[@anthony10370]

yeah most of the retention ponds around here don't outflow to a pipe until mostly full. they have permeable sides and floor to let the water filter into the ground.

[@hardiksinghvi9615]

Sometimes I feel as if my mind is connected with the world, and when I think of the questions, I get presented with the answers on KZbin or any other site. Does it happen often with y'all?

[@user-eu3tw7vp9k]

It's interesting! We should know this, and about our city waste/where the electricity comes from

[@pcfrias1977]

5:10 - many jurisdictions (e.g. most counties/cities in Maryland and many other states) require quality control treatment (bioretention, grass swales, sandfilters, etc.) to help remove suspended solids and certain chemicals before going into stormwater detention ponds and underground detention facilities prior to release back into nearby streams and waterways at pre-development release rates.

[@goneutt]

The Dallas /Ft Worth metroplex has a lot of green spaces that serve to manage a set of rivers that drain a huge area. In the 1920s they moved the Trinity away from Dallas, placing it between a set of levees a half mile or more apart, full of marshland.

[@MadMikeMacedonia]

My god, your voice is so calm and relaxing, it's like watching engendering shows on National Geographic or Discovery channel. I absolutely enjoy listening to you, great video btw as always. Don't ever stop making videos.

[@Lunavii_Cellest]

Countries that are great at water management are japan and the netherlands and both are very interesting on how they deal with it.

[@Yora21]

Countries that are great at water management generally have two important traits: Experiencing a lot of flooding. And taking public infrastructure seriously.

[@TheLaurentDupuis]

You should check Singapore too.

[@Speed001]

Hmm... Japan has a lot of typhoons. So I guess.

[@shankarrao5698]

Don’t forget Singapore. The island state a few meters above sea level has achieved outstanding success in Dealing with all aspects of water - be it storm water, waste water or drinking water. I wish practical engineering Makes a video or even a series of videos educating people around the world the miracles done in the tiny tropical country. Singaporeans face Yearly downpour of 200 inches plus. With hardly any scope for percolation, storm water can only be stored or diverted to the surrounding sea.

[@JohnSmith-fq3rg]

Japan isnt that good, tokyo's system is severly over capacity and their ground water level is rising yearly because of mismanagement. The fact they let a supercity like area like tokyo develope in the first place is proof enough of a lack of proper planning and management, just look at their insane lack of sensible residential/commercial zoning restrictions if you want a good insight into how bad things out of sight can possibly get if that's their level of care for things insight.

[@nickcull12]

The irony is I am bingeing these videos to destress from my engineering classes. Good work!

[@tydshiin5783]

Permeable pavement seems like a pretty good idea in theory, but I would imagine that it would get clogged up really fast if there is any plants nearby and I would imagine that it would also be pretty bad to use in places that snow or get really cold at night, making it pretty easily eroded

[@fuduzan5562]

The enthusiasm on your face at the start of the video when describing the topic is absolutely contagious. I'm excited to learn more about storm water management now!

[@lukpac]

Hey Grady, I think the sanitary vs. storm sewer issue deserves more discussion. You briefly touch on the fact that the water from storm sewers isn't treated, but that is actually a big issue. Here in Milwaukee we still have a combined storm/sanitary sewer in most of the metro area, and going back 30 or 40 years overflows during storm events were a huge problem. One proposed option was separating the storm and sanitary sewers, but it was decided that it would be too expensive to do that, as every street in the city would have to be ripped up. Instead, the deep tunnel system was built, which diverts and stores overflow during storm events. The deep tunnel system does get overloaded during massive storms, but my understanding is the amount of pollution coming from those overflows is still significantly less than if all storm water was simply sent to local waterways, as now the majority of it gets treated. And that runoff is now the primary source of pollution. Of course, reducing runoff is preferable to either of those solutions (separated storm sewer vs. deep tunnels), and there are local efforts underway to do just that, but I think it's often assumed that as long as it isn't (human) poop, it's fine.

[@pepperonish]

We have a combined system in Seattle too... it would be wildly expensive to add a second set of pipes in parallel.

[@coldroses5337]

I dig this guy. Explaining in "layman's terms" This nation needs more children like him to fix and upgrade our infrastructure. Cheers Grady 🍷

[@1995elnino]

This is relevant today in Sydney Australia where streets have been completely flooded because of unit blocks all build at the lowest ground point which also happens to be adjacent to the river where the water is meant to flow

[@macbookpro57]

I really appreciate these video; I’m a geologist that works for a dam engineering company, that originally went to school for oil & gas, so I didn’t know much about this stuff going into an industry that deals with water management. These videos make these concepts easy to understand. Thank you!

[@exsperm]

“Hi I’m Grady, and this is Practical Engineering”. Those words makes me smile every time😄

[@thoughtfox2409]

Another good thing about rainwater detention ponds is that they are great as a source for big volumes of water for the firebrigade. The normal drinkingwater-network on wich hydrants are attached can only supply so much, and often if you pull water from one hydrant you basicly disable all others as the watersupply is set as a branch, not a ring. With those big ponds there is often over 100m3 of free water, wich can be pulled out at the max rate the pumps can handle, so they can be used to refill tankers (only if the tanker isn't used for supplying drinkingwater during shortages or when main pipes blow) or even as a starting point for long hoselines on big fires

[@craigpridemore5831]

Oooohhh! I totally didn't get why so many condo developments over the last 20-30 years in my area were building these ponds or 'manmade creeks' when they built their complex. They're required to! I didn't make the connection to a couple of local parks that I know are really just big runoff basins, left that way to lessen flooding. Good info.

[@ianji]

In the UK we use the acronym SUDS for "Sustainable Urban Drainage System" but confusingly we also use SuDS for "Sustainable Drainage System".

[@garrettfrandson5447]

I'm a stream ecologist with only a hobbyist's interest in engineering-- I really appreciate this and other fluvial videos you've put out!

[@nexvull5911]

Rad bro 😎

[@Gam3Junkie7]

Again, another wonderfully educational and succinct video that answered a ponder I had after passing one of those ugly drainage channels here in Las Vegas, specifically the older, north-eastern part. I've been all over the city and wondered why the newer districts used water retention and not more of those hideous channels besides the look. Not to mention that LV's MS4 drain tunnel network is so extensive due to being a flood-prone clay-topped valley.

[@LeSethX]

Everything in this video highlights multiple problems in my city and more specifically, neighborhood. We are downhill from most of the city, near marshlands; our driveway runs uphill slightly towards the street, meaning the end floods every winter (we finally got a pump). This past week was the worst, with our underpass flooding, preventing cars from entering or exiting the neighborhood and even killed 2 neighbors in the sudden flood (due to, I think, blockage uphill suddenly released).

[@crueleyes7873]

I showed this channel to my mum. She thinks that you talk about very interesting topics and I think so too.

[@unspeakablevorn]

I live in southern Los Angeles County, a very short walk from Dominguez Channel, which drains 110 square miles of mostly residential land down to Long Beach and out to sea. Back in 2018 we passed Measure W, which is a parcel tax on impermeable surfaces: 2.5 cents for every square foot of area covered by solid concrete and other such things, with the money earmarked for improvements to stormwater management systems so we might capture some of that water.

[@hamjudo]

They should do that everywhere. I would also like to see a tax benefit for tree cover.

[@whynotcaptaincrunch]

LA County has a lot of work to do. There's been some effort to preserving and restoring wetlands, but so much of the natural waterways were paved over decades ago that it'll be big job to change it to something that can retain the water and make it usable.

[@michaelalton7446]

As a land surveyor can confirm just about every new housing development has had some sort of retention/detention pond it's pretty cool seeing stuff that I have to do(ish) I'm in the field ) explained in a cool and fun way 😸

[@JesusJuenger]

The first thing I thought of when I saw this video is "post 10". The comments here show I was not alone. For anyone who doesn't know it, post 10 is like Dr Pimple Popper, but for storm drains.

[@tncorgi92]

I thought the same thing. 😁

[@whuzzzup]

Ok. Now what is Dr Pimple Popper?

[@spikedthrone289]

Well that's one way of putting it

[@diamondsmasher]

I don’t know what any of that means

[@Wetcorps]

Thanks, I was wondering who that guy is but couldn't be assed to look it up. Though it would have required less effort than typing this. Oh well.

[@TheRealE.B.]

"Funnel instead of a sponge" is also part of the secret as to why U.S. transportation infrastructure is so legendarily bad. "Gee, why is this 6-lane highway that we force all traffic within a 5-mile radius onto always gridlocked 3 hours a day but completely empty the rest of the time?"

[@mukrifachri]

To be fair, you can't increase the density of water, but you can increase the density of people/passengers.

[@Speed001]

Also US focuses on Everyone having a car, which increases traffic.

[@TheRealE.B.]

@@Speed001 This.

[@lichking3711]

because public transportation is a mess outside of metropolises

[@jakestrong4505]

that but an entire intersection where i live, all the time

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

Tbh, I didn't even think I could be that interested in this kind of engineering. Good job man =)

[@awizardalso]

Here in Canton, Ohio, we have a small creek that runs through our parks called the West Branch Nimishillen Creek. There's also a low level area next to the creek on the east side of I-77 south of the old Lincoln Highway (Rt 172) that back in the early 1900's was a water reservoir and is now baseball fields and Mother Gooseland. When we have excessive rainfall the area will flood. All the street water run off is emptied into the creek.

[@elliejohnson2786]

I absolutely love when you invite learning with, "Keep an eye out for x", and I end up noticing these things more than I did before.

[@timothyosborn637]

I love how your videos are great for everyone. Even as I am learning civil engineering principals.

[@jdhart3759]

Watching this gave me a few ideas that I would hope are already in place or are being seriously considered, using high speed flowing water to power generators to take advantage of the flow , and the second idea (which is already taking place) is for cleaning water ways is to attach mesh bags to the ends of pipes to help collect the trash , also creating job opportunities. It seems odd to me that more cities have not installed trash filters into the pipe systems

[@mikewazowski471]

I actually have a large rainbarrel that has a membrane and other filters, i use to to water my yard, my garden, as drinking water, i put it in my cars radiator, everywhere. Soon I will also begin using it as a supplement for shower/bath/sink/toilet water using a system from my city. They tie the barrel into the houses water system and add a sensor so when the barrel is empty only then do i start using municipal water. It saves so much money in the longrun and also saves the environment!

[@bassmachine8097]

This has got to be one of the most well made shows on KZbin

[@horizonbrave1533]

Awesome topic!! Thanks Grady you sir are such a boon to youtube. I'm not into the field of engineering, but I love the topics. Keep feeding curiosity!

[@mikel9567]

I work in public works for the County and enjoyed this video. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who think our roadside ditches are their personal disposal chutes for yard waste. Those grass clippings and leaves wreak havoc on our culverts and catch basins.

[@Merennulli]

I live in a relatively low density area (a "suburb" of a 42k "city") and our area keeps having "it's never flooded like that here before" storms. To be clear, we got a LOT worse flooding in 1993, but now the places that flood are either filling much more rapidly or places that never flooded before are accumulating water fast enough to flood despite being far above the flood level. In 2016 a homeless man drowned under a bridge that, while the area experiences flooding, it's always been backflow flooding (where the river came up and backed up into the creek, causing it to slowly accumulate for as long as it can't drain). Essentially, a few decades of residential and business construction along the creek upstream turned the area into a massive funnel without anyone realizing it, and the bridge supports captured trees and other debris, worsening the problem so that within minutes a huge area that included 3 baseball fields, 2 parking lots, an ice arena, a skate park, and some open land was all flooded, some of it deeply enough to fully submerge a full sized truck, and this was above a 6 foot deep, 10 foot wide channel that usually barely has a trickle going through it. Ever since then I've been watching the weather and warning people (I run a local Discord group that makes use of that park a lot) whenever a system comes through that could flood it, and we've seen a few more times where it did. My suburb about 3 miles from the bluffs on the opposite side of the river, and we only have 3k population, but they've started requiring the retention ponds for all new construction here. Just a few years ago we had a storm where the highway here flooded several inches deep and fast moving enough to splash visibly up into the air when I was stuck behind it by about 20 cars. The water had everywhere it could have wanted to go to get away from there, but it just came down so fast and was funneled so strongly past the highway that it gushed over the road and all they could do was have police block us from going through until it slowed down. It boggles my mind just how much impact we have on these things. For as small as we are, we have an incredibly outsized impact on the world around us.

[@flavvsdasilver6442]

Now there's a difficult choice to make: to watch Grady's video on Urban Stormwater Management first, or CGP Greys video on Hexagons Are Bestagons first... Fortunately I can watch both 😊 (btw, urban planning is first up 😉)

[@Maazin5]

I had the same dilemma 🤠

[@kolinako6872]

You have two eyes and ears, why not check out them both "first"!

[@charadremur7354]

Yeah

[@MrBlackHawk888]

@@kolinako6872 Ryder: "I'm a mothefuckin' genius." )

[@kori228]

lol I watched Hexagons Are Bestagons first

[@opsimathics]

I'm glad engineers are moving away from the classic "cover the world in cement" model

[@Zestrayswede]

"Cover the world in cement" isn't classic at all nor is it tried-and-true, it's barely 100 years old just like the blight of modern architecture is... which is *not* a coincidence and i'd say feed off each other.

[@mikefochtman7164]

Some areas where the terrain is hilly have a lot of trouble. Where I lived at one time in Tennessee, they used storm systems but during heavy rains, all the water on roads in higher areas would completely fill/flood the sewer piping and lift man-hole covers off in the lower areas, creating 1-6 inch 'fountains' in the middle of the street. But it's hard to fund 'overbuilding' for that 'only every couple of years' rainstorm, so compromises have to be made.

[@Jooshyb]

In Phoenix, groundwater replenishment is a huge priority and there have been neighborhood efforts to modify gutters to harvest rainwater instead of just trying to get the water out as quickly as possible.

[@theusher2893]

I'm shocked they don't already.

[@junkerzn7312]

We visited Tokyo last year and saw the insane large-scale engineering representing their storm-water runoff system first-hand. Just unbelievable engineering. I couldn't visit the underground river diversion tunnels in person by the above-ground stuff alone was engineering on a scale I had never seen before. -Matt

[@MathiasJarlson]

Thanks

[@Jameel_Ali]

Thanks alot for showing why, Trinidad and Tobago going through some flooding right now

[@mduvigneaud]

Grady, I always love your videos. You do such a great job describing and explaining things. :)

[@DesertRaven365]

Wow, the quality of content, narration and edition of this video is something even universities or TV channels would be product of - awesome!

[@kori228]

Post10: *Heavy breathing*

[@haleyweatherall5090]

LID and green stormwater management really is the way to go. In Chicago the TARP system (giant network of tunnels and reservoirs) is turning out to be inadequate. Even though it has a capacity of 10-13 billion gallons. Urban stormwater runoff is just too large to feasibly handle with detention systems. In Philadelphia they have a massive green infrastructure initiative that has a goal to CAPTURE a third of all stormwater runoff by adding green space (roofs, planters, medians, pervious pavement, etc.). To date, they've built nearly 1,100 greened acres and expect to add another 1,300 in the next three years. Targets for stormwater reduction are already exceeded, cutting volume by 1.7 billion gallons. TARP may be an engineering marvel, but it's based on outdated science. Green infrastructure is the best option.

[@ellicopter1]

Post 10 has entered the chat.

[@Maex2k]

Found his channel a few days ago and I am obsessed!

[@ellicopter1]

@@Maex2k Its a fantastic channel, good in depth explanations like what used to be on TV before they dumbed everything down.

[@eschelon9067]

Dang, I wanted to make that comment!

[@rkgaustin9043]

Came in to say this. Found my work already done. Leaving satisfied.

[@whoever6458]

We have a creek near here that used to get full all the way to the top whenever we would have a decent rain. My friends and I would ride down to the creek when there was a break in the rain to see how high the water had gotten. One time, it was lapping at the bottom of one of the bridges. One of my friends decided to walk along the pedestrian part, which was affixed oddly to the side of the main bridge. I tried everything I could to get him not to do it because I didn't know much of anything about fluid dynamics but it seemed pretty obvious that it was a dangerous thing to do. He was really lucky because nothing bad happened to him and, once he was over the raging water with the water lapping at his shoes a little bit, he started to realize it was pretty dangerous and came back. In any case, the Army Corp of Engineers came in to better manage the water and they wanted to turn it into one of those cement canals but a lot of people living nearby protested because we wanted to water to go into the water table. So a compromise was made in which they widened the creek, put angled cement walls along the sides, cement features to slow the water as it passed through, and only completely cemented the creek when it was near one of the bridges. So basically the bottom is dirt, although they've obviously compacted it a good bit more than it was in the bottom of the creek before. So far, we've not gotten anywhere close to having water to the top of that canal since they did that and it seems to have been fine for both the water table and the wildlife.

[@00SNIVY00]

I've got 3 stormwater drains all within about a mile of my house, likely more than that if I thought about it more, two of them are a bit more recent, past couple years or so as new developments happen, but they're still there and I hope they're doing some good when it really pours around here.

[@ebinvarghese3615]

The runoff created after even a seemingly mild rain can be very huge. Thank you for posting this really informative video.

[@jameschen2942]

no, it doesn't. The drainage systems are designed to drain major storm event. Eg 10% AEP for undergound and 1% AEP surface water. So the flow within water course is slow and shallow for mild rain.

[@timmccormack3930]

Yeah, I did some calculations and just a 3 mm rain drops 500 liters of water on our roof. 3 cm rain? 5000 liters. I'd need a lot of rain barrels to capture that!

[@c4n4d4]

Just found out I passed my CA PE! Practical Engineering video to celebrate!

[@gus473]

👍🏼 Excellent, congratulations! Use it wisely! 🍻

[@TheRealE.B.]

Congratulations!

[@LvL_99_Red_Chocobo]

Congratulations! With great power comes great responsibility. You were but the learner, now you are the master! Earned my PE in 2015.

[@jcee2259]

My county seat has put out a public use map that denotes piped storm water outlet as creek headwaters. Posted 300 feet downstream of a spring fed source. From public parking is a trail that leads users past that sign. So passerby thus hear spring headwaters gurgling alongside down past the sign and toward a pipe. Yes, the city and a nearby heavy industry have reasons to brand the pipe outflow as "Stormwater". .

[@jonthatcher3958]

My son really loves storm drain videos. Yours was the most informative and helped answer many of his questions.

[@Born2Grind]

You should look up post10 he's a guy that unclogs culverts and it's really neat.

[@MegalYanez]

"Aren't just places for clowns to hang out"😄

[@dantheman3022]

ITS coming for you !!!!!!!!!

[@michaelp8564]

You want your boat Georgie?

[@billkalicious]

"These sewers are not for waste" - I hope cousin Eddie hears this the next time the sh!tter's full.

[@RabbitsInBlack]

Sad Part is Cousin Eddie wasn't playing Cousin Eddie, he's more insane than his character.

[@IngeniebrioCivil]

In the city I live, ive designed solutions of infiltration and retention. The code here enforce that before the stormwater goes to the sewer, have to infiltrate or storage the water for a determinate amount of time, so the time that the water take to get to the sewer or creek before and after the project are similar.

[@datashed]

The village adjacent to my city incorporated pervious concrete at every intersection during a reconstruction of all of its streets and curb-and-gutter (I was on the land survey team). You can open a fire hydrant on those intersections for hours at a time and see no accumulation. It would be nice to see more widespread adoption of these materials, especially in areas prone to heavy drought that rely on rainwater permeation to recharge the aquifers. Downside is the expense: requires deeper and more extensive subgrade prep work to allow the water to escape without washing out the road.

[@dialga4688]

I see I'm not the only one that immediately thought of Post 10 when I saw this video

[@juliomichelle8705]

at 6:06 I thought he was measuring with a stick of ram LMAO

[@Mecawave]

That would be the Adafruit One PCB to Ruler Them All.

[@GoatStormChaser]

It seems it be 8gb of height /s

[@MiishaKorvian]

4:12 I've seen sewer design ***as-built*** plans from the 1920s. It had a storm sewer connected directly to a sanitary sewer, which were both connected to an overflow buffer chamber thing (technical term :P) that could itself overflow and would dump the raw sewage directly into the nearby creek.

[@carrollmcpherson4530]

Installing these pipes is part of what I do at work. Concrete, steel, hdpe and pvc pipe, drain boxes and head walls too.

[@deephorizon1365]

Post 10: "You fool, you have no clue who REALLY controls the floods."

[@ataphelicopter5734]

The man is an utter legend, a hero we all need

[@firefoley]

Best comment 😂👌🏼

[@deephorizon1365]

@@firefoley Haha, thanks

[@ChristopherTaylorIsRad]

@@ataphelicopter5734 The man is a "gutter" legend.

[@spikedthrone289]

@@ataphelicopter5734 don't you mean GUTTER ok i'll stop

[@adamt195]

6:30 - You can't widen the channels to solve flooding..... Just like how you can't build your way out of traffic congestion. You have to look at alternatives.

[@slashplane]

7:10, seen alot of things like that, knew they where for drainage but didn't know how they fit into the system. Cool videos that teach interesting things.

[@BartZocktPictures]

In Germany there are Regenrückhaltebecken for holding rainwater after a storm an then release it slowly after. It's like a small pond and mostly used in small towns.

[@mikehunt42069]

Your videos have made me so much more curious about everyday engineering around me! I'm not sufficiently educated to understand it all, but I have certainly become more appreciative of the great people who keep our civilization running.

[@grv2567]

I have two separate on-site water storage areas in my neighborhood there in the woods and I go to check them out usually after it rains to see how much water is in them and it’s pretty cool to watch the water flow in the spillways. Sometimes they get really big and deep and the water flow gets really high to the point to where it’s almost a little too dangerous to get near the spillways. After the next rain, I will post a video about them. To all my viewers. I know it’s been a while since I posted but after the next rain I will record and post the on-site water storage areas in my neighborhood. But only after a heavy rain that has been going on for a long time.

[@tsp8855]

5:04 I haven’t genuinely cracked up in a long while until I saw this part😂 kudos to the humor and the overall video content

[@bigloudnoise]

Chicago (or at least parts of it) still uses a combined sewage/stormwater system. Instead of sending the stormwater directly to the sewage treatment plants though, they divert it to a giant unused rock quarry for storage, so they can then treat it at a more manageable rate after it stops raining. If you drive on I-80 through southern Chicago, you'll eventually go directly over this giant hole.