Drainage systems have been found in ancient cities over 5,000 years old, including Minoan, Indus, Persian, and Mesopotamian civilizations. These drainage systems focused mostly on reducing nuisances from localized flooding and waste water. Rudimentary systems made from brick or stone channels constituted the extent of urban drainage technologies for centuries. Cities in Ancient Rome also employed drainage systems to protect low-lying areas from excess rainfall. When builders began constructing aqueducts to import fresh water into cities, urban drainage systems became integrated into water supply infrastructure for the first time as a unified urban water cycle. 
Modern drainage systems did not appear until the 19th century in Western Europe, although most of these systems were primarily built to deal with sewage issues rising from rapid urbanization. One such example is that of the London sewerage system, which was constructed to combat massive contamination of the River Thames. At the time, the River Thames was the primary component of Londons drainage system, with human waste concentrating in the waters adjacent to the densely populated urban center. As a result, several epidemics plagued Londons residents and even members of Parliament, including events known as the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak and the Great Stink of 1858. The concern for public health and quality of life launched several initiatives, which ultimately led to the creation of London's modern sewerage system designed by Joseph Bazalgette. This new system explicitly aimed to ensure waste water was redirected as far away from water supply sources as possible in order to reduce the threat of waterborne pathogens. Since then, most urban drainage systems have aimed for similar goals of preventing public health crises.
Within past decades, as climate change and urban flooding have become increasingly urgent challenges, drainage systems designed specifically for environmental sustainability have become more popular in both academia and practice. The first sustainable drainage system to utilize a full management train including source control in the UK was the Oxford services motorway station designed by SuDS specialists Robert Bray Associates Originally the term SUDS described the UK approach to sustainable urban drainage systems. These developments may not necessarily be in "urban" areas, and thus the "urban" part of SuDS is now usually dropped to reduce confusion. Other countries have similar approaches in place using a different terminology such as best management practice (BMP) and low-impact development in the United States, water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) in Australia, low impact urban design and development (LIUDD) in New Zealand, and comprehensive urban river basin management in Japan.
The National Research Council's definitive report on urban stormwater management described that urban drainage systems began in the United States after World War II. These structures were based on simple catch basins and pipes to transfer the water outside of the cities. Urban stormwater management started to evolve more in the 1970s when landscape architects focused more on low-impact development and began using practices such as infiltration channels. Parallel to this time, scientists started becoming concerned with other stormwater hazards surrounding pollution. Studies such as the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program showed that urban runoff contained pollutants like heavy metals, sediments, and pathogens, all of which water can pick up as it flows off of impermeable surfaces. It was at the beginning of the 21st century where stormwater infrastructure to allow runoff to infiltrate close to the source became popular. This was around the same time that the term green infrastructure was coined.