Budapest Capital XII. district Hegyvidéki Municipality
Diana Street underground rainwater reservoir
The Municipality of Hegyvidék participates as a project promoter in the LIFE UrbanExtreme project. The aim of the pilot project is to investigate the problems arising from changes in precipitation events due to climate change, or the lack thereof, in the different geographical and built-up districts of the capital, and in the light of this to create a solution proposal and action plan for sustainable stormwater management at district and capital level.
The main long-term objective of the LIFE Urban Rainfall project is to minimise the damage caused by the increasing intensity of precipitation in Budapest in the future, according to all available analyses, and to help other cities in Hungary and abroad to use the project’s experience to better protect themselves against the damage caused by intense precipitation.
The municipality of Hegyvidék is at the forefront of developing a timely strategy to mitigate the effects of climate change.
One of the most important of these is to reduce the destructive impact of rainfall from the mountain and to use the captured rainwater efficiently during the drought period.
Rainwater harvesting barrels have been provided to the public for years. The new construction project that has just started j rainwater harvesting cisterns were installed at the intersection of Diana Street and Lily of the Valley Street, where rainwater runoff from the hill posed a threat to the lower-lying streets. The project was preceded by lengthy planning and site selection, but the 30 m3 of cisterns now in place are just the beginning.
In the next phase, two 10 m3 cisterns will be installed in Üröm Street, one for storage and the other for desilting – adapted to local conditions.
The investment under the Urban Rain project will be followed up in other parts of the district, as these developments are the first examples of investment in a larger scheme. In Pagony Street, for example, rain gardens and belt ditches will be created, but there are also plans to install monitoring stations and measuring instruments that will allow immediate intervention by providing real-time data.
Interview by Hegyvidék TV:
What is the purpose of the investment?
What is the purpose of the investment?
The Diana Street underground rainwater reservoir was created as part of the LIFE Urban Rain project and aims to retain and reuse rainwater during the dry season. A Hegyvidéki Önkormányzat projektben vállalt hosszú távú célja, hogy a klímaváltozás következtében – a rendelkezésre álló összes elemzés szerint – egyre intenzívebbé váló csapadékmennyiség a jövőben minél kisebb kárt okozzon köz-és magánterületek egyaránt.
Why the intersection of Diana Street and Lily of the Valley Road?
Why the intersection of Diana Street and Lily of the Valley Road?
The proposed groundwater reservoir at the intersection of Pearl Flower Road and Diana Street is located on top of the Győri Road – Svábhegy sub-catchment area. In case of heavy rainfall, the lower areas of the sub-catchment will suffer severe flood damage, including to public and private properties. Runoff modelling results indicate that significant amounts of rainfall can be captured already at the intersection of Pearlwort Road and Diana Street, making it a perfect location to retain sudden rainfall.
With this pilot project, the Municipality of Hegyvidék wants to demonstrate that in order to protect the lower parts of the catchment area from flooding, rainwater must be retained in the higher areas. In the district, a similar reservoir is being built in Öröm Street. If these pilot interventions prove successful, further similar developments could be carried out in the district in the future.
How does the rainwater reservoir work?
How does the rainwater reservoir work?
The total capacity of the groundwater tank is 30 m3, consisting of 3 interconnected 10 m3 elements. Stormwater run-off from the surface is collected by a grid river crossing Diana Street and is then conveyed to the underground interconnected reservoirs. The stormwater is treated using sand traps and oil traps. When all the tanks are full, the excess rainwater is returned to the road surface through an overflow.
What happens to the collected rainwater?
What happens to the collected rainwater?
Each reservoir element will be equipped with an automatic transducer to measure the saturation of the tanks. The data is collected on the Municipality’s server, allowing the Municipality’s staff to monitor the amount of rainwater collected. The rainwater collected is pumped out by the green area maintenance contractors and used to irrigate small green areas in public areas (e.g. flower beds, tree borders, bee-keeping areas, etc.) during dry periods, replacing the use of fire water.
