Subsurface drainage systems are widely used in agricultural area, when waterlogging and salinity are problems. Subsurface system can also help increasing the potential for infiltration. In this work, an application of subsurface drainage integrated with the decontamination system using activated carbon is proposed as a mean to recharge groundwater during the flood. Concern over the potential contaminating groundwater with urban runoff could be eliminated by the pretreated system incorporated with the recharging unit. A small model of the subsurface system envelope was tested to verify the activated carbon as a potential filled material. The result showed that the slope of the perforated pipe posed little or no effect on the flow rate in pipe due to the size of the model. For this preliminary study, it is highly possible to use activated carbon as filled material in subsurface systems for recharging groundwater. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.