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Designing Gravity Pipe Networks
on February 18, 2019
With the completion of parcel design, you are ready to move on to another major area of design: pipe design. As a designer, one type of pipe design that you must address is the safe and efficient collection and conveyance of water that falls on a site during a rainstorm. This type of pipe design is part of a larger design process called stormwater management. Because the development of land often involves turning absorbent surfaces (soft grassy soil, trees, and forest floors) into impervious surfaces (pavement, concrete, and asphalt rooftops), rain that falls on a developed site will travel farther and much faster before it is absorbed when compared to rain the fell on the site before it was developed. This water on the move can cause erosion or flooding, so it must be safely collected and placed in surface channels or underground pipes. The pipes and channels then carry the water to a safe place where it can be discharged without doing harm.