Vertical drainage is a component of IWRM in which extreme weather events, either floods or draughts , are mitigated with improved science-based water management techniques and constructions.
Overflow is temporarily stored and forced to infiltrate into the aquifer, reducing the peak flowrate and enlarging concentration time. Volume is conducted through either injection or percolation boreholes, or stagnation-infiltration ponds and channels. This water is stored and preserved from pollution, to be reused in the future. Underground storage reduces evaporation losses that can raise to high levels in Summer, when water availability is lower while demand increases. At the same time, the ecosystem services are enhanced by the growth of endemic plants in artificial wetlands, inducing the purification of shallow waters. Anyway, these techniques and expected results of CC adaptation should be validated with appropriated and sound field data collection to encourage any future development.
Two incipient pilots of vertical drainage are in operation since 2011at the East coast of Spain, and might be proposed as demo-sites. Another Living Lab in the Center of the country counts on hydrodynamic monitoring since 2002.