Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1016624
14 | SEPTEMBER 2018 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk The Works: sustainable drainage WATER COMPANY VIEW " SuDS and surface water management is becoming a much more important area for us. We've identi ed over the last ve or ten years that we're moving away from grey infrastructure – which is proving to be very expensive and onerous, particularly in built-up areas – towards other ways of dealing with surface water at source. Conventional schemes end up solving water quantity issues in isolation, whereas SuDS can provide amenity value and biodiversity as well. "We're recognising that at the moment with our PR19 plan. In the current AMP, our 2020 programme is investing £20M to disconnect 20 hectares of surface area from our combined sewer network. We've learned a lot from that, and in our PR19 plan we'll be proposing to invest a lot more in surface water management and in other ways of delivering it. We have recognised that maybe we are not the best people to deliver certain types of SuDS, but maybe other third parties are. Rather than Thames Water just cracking on and delivering what we can, we also want to partner up with local authorities and other organisations to deliver things together. "Looking at some of the SuDS we have delivered over the last decade or so, there have been some great examples of big surface water disconnection schemes, like Battersea and Nine Elms, which result in a lot of surface water being taken to the river rather than the combined sewer. Those projects are very asset intensive and we are probably best placed to lead on these. But at the other end of the spectrum, where there are small schemes at schools and local parks, it is best that we are contributors to those types of schemes and work together with partners rather than necessarily leading on them. "So in our business plan, we will continue to have money available for Caption those bigger schemes that Thames will lead on, but we will also have new pots of partnership funding. We will make funding available to all boroughs – and we have been working with local authorities over the last 18 months to shape this strategy – to ensure that everyone's got an opportunity to deliver schemes in partnership with Thames. On top of that we will be looking to partner up with three boroughs which are in our lowest lying catchments, and make large amounts of money available to those boroughs for surface water management; we could work with their highways, parks, "We have recognised that we are not the best people to deliver certain types of SuDS, but third parties are." Tim Beech, wastewater infrastructure planning manager, and Andrew Hagger, head of wastewater infrastructure, strategy and planning, Thames Water • ood risk managers, any opportunity we can nd in their borough. If this more concentrated pilot works then we will look to continue that work into AMP8. "The third pot of money will be for third parties other than local authorities who want to partner with us – transport, NGOs, schools or hospitals, or anybody else that has a large land base to deliver SuDS. "Everyone's got their own part to play in delivering SuDS, and there's no silver bullet. We've got to be in there from the start, working with developers and local authorities to make sure planning conditions are enforced, give feedback on assets and make sure that everyone is doing their bit. We'll continue to work hard with retro tting SuDS going forward, but for new SuDS schemes going in, we've got to make sure they are being designed well and are designed to last." Thames Water will work through partnerships to deliver SuDS in schools (above) and in settings such as parks Here is the new design. Any enquires should be sent to: sean.austen@ksb.com 01278 458 686