With Britain hosting the UN’s Climate Change Conference this November, the recent State of the Climate report was greeted with interest by politicians and construction professionals alike. Published by The Royal Meteorological Society, the report showed that Britain had become 6% wetter, on average, over the last 30 years (1991-2020). Additionally, six of the 10 wettest years since 1862 have occurred since 1998.
This wetter weather will challenge the UK’s drainage infrastructure and the management of water quantity and quality. Fortunately for engineers working on rainfall management and stormwater attenuation systems, StormTech – the world’s preferred subsurface water management system – is now available in the UK.
StormTech is manufactured by ADS, America’s largest manufacturer of corrugated thermoplastic drainage pipes and a specialist in water management systems. StormTech has a long and successful track record with over 40,000 installations – including St Petersburg and Guernsey airports – ranging from the DC United stadium to Lidl stores in the USA.
StormTech provides a durable solution for commercial, residential, industrial and infrastructure installations. As part of an integrated SuDS system, StormTech helps provide valuable surface space for parking, playgrounds or other amenities, and has many benefits over alternatives such as geo- cellular crates, large diameter pipes and vaulted systems.
Flexibility is designed-in to StormTech. The chambers are injection moulded to ensure consistent quality and performance, and even the colour and semi-elliptical shape are deliberate engineering choices. The chambers shape the embedment stone into structural arches forming load bearing columns. This makes StormTech more adaptable than other systems, as it’s the stone that transmits the majority of the load.
StormTech chambers lock together, providing uninterrupted access for easy inspection and maintenance, and the wide range of sizes makes it easy to optimise systems for all conditions, including shallow invert depths and reduced footprints. They’re also highly adaptable and can be configured around obstacles and afford multiple inlet and outlet positions. Standard pipe manifolds, manholes, access chambers and flow controls can be used.
StormTech incorporates the unique, patented Isolator Row, a built-in water quality treatment device, removing silt, sediment and other surface water pollutants. Isolator Row has been independently tested by universities and respected industry bodies and proven to remove over 80% of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and other water-borne pollutants including metals, hydrocarbons, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Isolator Row provides two treatment stages: settling (gravity separation) and filtration. Unlike other sub-surface systems, Isolator Row provides a “free” water quality treatment device as an integral part of the stormwater attenuation system.
StormTech’s Design Tool 2.0 provides quick and effective system design optimisation that integrates with CAD and other design, engineering and specification documents. Sample designs and layouts are available, as are a team of specialist design engineers. For installers, the SiteASSIST app includes comprehensive instructions and videos, making working with StormTech fast, easy and efficient.
StormTech affords low embodied carbon per m 3 of attenuated water compared with alternative systems and is fully recyclable. It is independently tested, BBA approved and compliant with ASTM F2787, F2418 and F2922.
Originally published in NCE.com November 2021
For more information on Advanced Drainage Systems, visit www.adspipe.co.uk.
