Sustainability

Urban developments need to adapt to the threat of climate change. One of the biggest impacts to Lancaster City in the future will be more frequent heavy rains. Heavy rains can overwhelm the city’s combined sewer system, causing untreated sewage to be discharged into our waterways.

One of the ways to prevent these overflows in the future is to slow rainwater down. Ewell Plaza is a perfect example of how this can be done through stormwater retention systems.

Under Ewell Plaza is a 122,584 gallon stormwater retention system that gathers rainfall from the plaza and nearby parking garage. This system holds onto the rainfall and slowly releases it into the sewer system. This helps prevent the system from becoming overwhelmed in the event of heavy rains.

Connected to the retention system is a 6,000 gallon cistern, where rainfall is stored until it used to water the plants and trees in Ewell Plaza.