Reducing the Risk of Basement Flooding Through Building- and Lot-Scale Flood Mitigation Approaches: Performance of Foundation Drainage Systems

Abstract

The increase in frequency and severity of urban flooding events affecting many regions across North America has resulted in increases in occurrence of basement flooding, property damage and insured losses. Numerous lot-scale, watershed and municipal factors affect the risk of flooding for a region, including urbanization and land-use, watershed characteristics and hydrology, municipal infrastructure and stormwater management. Flood management mitigation techniques that are implemented at the building- and lot-scale (or private-side) can reduce the risk of basement flooding for a particular home. These measures include backwater valves to reduce the risk of sewer surcharge into basements, low impact development strategies to reduce runoff entering municipal sewer systems, and foundation drainage systems to reduce the risk of infiltration flooding. To ensure the suitability and successful implementation of private-side flood mitigation approaches in a wide range of complex site-specific conditions, there is need for research into the performance of these measures. This research focuses on foundation drainage systems and the influence of complex inter-related factors that affect the performance of these systems under various conditions. In particular, this paper presents the design of a novel laboratory foundation drainage system for conducting experiments to quantify infiltration pathways in the proximity of residential foundations and evaluate the performance of these systems. This work will assist in identifying recommendations for the successful implementation and maintenance of foundation drainage systems and lead to a greater level of knowledge on this private-side flood mitigation approach to improve the resiliency of residential homes to urban flooding events.