Do you think that the Box culverts constitute a radical solution to the rain floods in cities as reservoirs and the use of water in street washing automatically?
I subscribe to a magazine called Stormwater. I think it may be free to me In US, not sure about international. It has examples of companies that advertise, and they make underground storage systems of various types. These systems are most often used for Stormwater in urban areas. I suppose box culverts would also work as long as sized right, with enough capacity or outlets to carry excess stormflow if they are full and need to release flow or have suitable emergency overflow as you might use for a dam. In sand dominated systems, there could be issues with sedimentation to consider or contend with. I would consider using high strength concrete, possibly avoiding steel rebar if these will be frequently wet, as rust may eventually weaken or exposed to a high degree of vibration, such as heavy traffic that could weaken. If you could consult with some of the companies that make underground Stormwater storage systems, they may know of added items for consideration. If sand or Other sediments accumulate, there will need to be a way to clean them out.
Cheapest subsurface storage tends not to be concrete. There are a variety of options, depending on your source of water. I'll point you to the latest supplier who came to our office:
http://aquaq.ca/home/products/product_detail/cultec-contactor-and-recharger-chambers/161/l:eng.
Installed cost per cubic meter of storage, when including the installed clear stone, is the same as the clearstone alone, but with a significantly higher effective porosity. Thus, if clearstone has a 35% void ratio, we need a bulk volume of close to 3m3 of clear stone to hole a m3 of water. If clear stone in your area is $100/m3 installed, then the water can be stored subsurface for about $300/m3. Using one of these systems, the total void ratio is increased to about 50%, so only 2m3 of total volume is required to store 1m3 of water, but the cost will still be about $300/m3 stored, due to the additional material cost.
Concrete has it's place - I've used concrete superpipes in several designs. It's really easy to clean out, and the contractors are used to handling it. All these new approaches means much more supervision time, better construction drawings and specifications, and so forth.
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