4 PIPES & DRAINAGE 2019
PIPES & DRAINAGE 2019
Bringing planning
up to scratch
Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans could become
compulsory ahead of AMP8 to bring greater clarity to
companies' long-term strategies
The framework for DWMPs, which pro-
vide a means for all concerned parties to
plan for the future of drainage and wastewa-
ter, was one of the main outcomes from the
Water UK 21st Century Drainage Programme,
which brought together water utilities, local
authorities, drainage bodies and other stake-
holders to investigate how they could solve
shared challenges on flooding, sewer capac-
ity, population growth and climate change.
The framework was published in
W
hile the water companies are
obliged to deliver Water Resource
Management Plans (WRMPs) to
boost the security of potable supplies, there
is not yet any obligation to produce a waste-
water equivalent.
However, climate change and population
growth pose sizeable challenges on both
fronts and – even if there has been greater
focus on water stress in recent times – there
is still significant concern over pollution
incidents and the quality of water returned
to the surrounding environment.
Wastewater resilience can only be deliv-
ered by adopting a bigger-picture view of the
system it inhabits, taking into consideration
factors such as the roads and rivers within
the catchment, and that suggests that the
new Drainage and Wastewater Management
Plans (DWMPs) – which take inspiration
from the WRMP model – should play a sub-
stantial role moving into the future.