Stormwater management can easily seem unnecessary when there is not too much water.
A depression takes space. A wetland takes space. Space should be left for green areas. The pipe might need to be built larger. It all costs money.
It is easy to ask whether all of this is really necessary.
Then comes a rainstorm the city was not designed for.
Water does not wait for the next budget cycle. It flows downhill. If no place has been made for it, it makes its own.
It may be a street.
A garage.
A basement.
A building entrance.
That is why stormwater management is not ultimately just about pipes. It is about where water is allowed to go when the pipes are no longer enough.
This is where landscape architecture comes in. Ground levels, vegetation, depressions, wetlands, parks and open flow routes can all be part of the system. The same place can be a lawn or park on an ordinary day and a temporary place for water during an extreme rainfall event.
Water does not recognize property boundaries either. A problem on one site can originate kilometres away in the upstream catchment.
That is why good stormwater design can look like empty space on an ordinary day.
During an extreme rainfall event, it looks very cheap.
The water has to fit somewhere anyway.
Good design decides the place before the water decides it for itself.