Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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8 | NOVEMBER 2019 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk The Talk: opinion SPONSORED BY BY MARTIN LAMBLEY, PRODUCT MANAGER FOR STORMWATER MANAGEMENT, WAVIN Act now, benefit later Why prevention is better than cure when it comes to surface water flooding Y ou only need to look out of the window of late to notice that rainfall and therefore floods are on the rise. In fact, according to the European Academies' Science Advisory Council, we now experience floods four times more regularly than we did in the 1980s. The Environment Agency also states that 2.8 million UK properties are now at risk of surface water, or pluvial, flooding alone. Of course, we're never going to eliminate floods altogether – it's part and parcel of our climate – however, there is a lot we can do to reduce their impact. Despite this, the effort and funding put into preventative measures is still far outweighed by that which is poured into flood response when disasters occur, and by the losses made as a result of them. For example, according to a report by Hooper et al, at peak times flooding costs the economy around £100,000 per hour per major road affected. To minimise such expenses and the damage caused by floods, we must take flood prevention more seriously. A turning point When it comes to flooding, the 'prevention vs cure' conversation can really be traced back to the Pitt Review published in 2008, which examined the widespread flooding that took place in England in June and July 2007. A total of 55,000 properties were flooded, 7,000 people had to be rescued and 13 people died, with the flood causing over £3 billion worth of damage. The report looked at how the response could have been improved and, more importantly, what could be done to prevent such a flood from happening again. The Pitt Review led to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, which mandated that flooding shouldn't just be something to accept and react to, but something for which measures should be put in place to prevent. Crucially, it introduced Schedule 3, which gives power to local authority planning departments to legally ensure that any proposed developments – including houses, commercial buildings and roads – feature Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), avoiding water simply being flowed via pipes and then downstream into a watercourse. Ašer all, a major cause of the 2007 floods was urban run-off pouring water into rivers that simply couldn't cope. Design and construction guidance From January 2019, Schedule 3 has been implemented in Wales, meaning local authorities now require developers to design SuDS into developments from the off and they are a key requirement to gaining planning permission. In England, this is not the case. Instead, SuDS are to be delivered through the National Planning Policy Guidance, which leaves more room for developers to argue against the inclusion of surface water management systems. One of the major reasons for such arguments is that developers have been concerned about who would be responsible for their maintenance ašer construction is complete. However, the upcoming water sector Design and Construction Guidance (replacing Sewers for Adoption) will for the first time categorise some SuDS as adoptable by water companies, meaning they will be responsible for them along with traditional foul drainage, alleviating this concern. With this change on the horizon, there is growing momentum for SuDS in the industry and housebuilders in particular are realising that including them doesn't need to be as expensive as they initially thought, nor reduce the number of plots available. On the contrary: SuDS can even make properties more attractive to the buyer due to the increased green space. However, while the Design and Construction Guidance is indeed a step in the right direction, it is still not Schedule 3, so universal implementation cannot be guaranteed. And it's a matter of resource; in London, there is already a very strong surface water drainage policy, whereas in local authorities with smaller planning teams, more developments without SuDS specified can slip through the net. Taking responsibility There is no doubt that the new document will allow flood prevention methods like SuDS to become more mainstream. Ašer all, if you look at Wales, no developer has stopped building because they now have to include surface water management in their planning applications. However, despite constant appeals to the government, it isn't looking likely that Schedule 3 will be imposed in England any time soon. So, for now, we have to simply appeal to developers across the country to accept the new guidance in its truest form, take responsibility for the environmental impact of their projects, and do their bit to protect the country from the threat of increased rainfall and floods. Wavin's SuDS systems being installed.