City of Ottawa Tackles System Overflow and Flooding with Tempest Inlet Controls Case Study

Over the past few decades, rain events throughout North America have become more frequent and substantial. The combination of increased rain and outdated infrastructure has caused many municipality storm sewers and drainage systems to exceed capacity, resulting in flooding and additional expense.

To cost-effectively mitigate the problem, municipalities are turning to the use of inlet control devices, or ICDs. Together with catch basins, ICDs limit the amount of storm water runoff that can enter a system during a storm event. ICDs control water flow at the sewer inlet, allowing excess water surge to remain in catch basins or temporarily above the ground until the storm subsides, thus preventing sewer
system backups and overflows.