Water & Wastewater Treatment

Project focus: sustainable drainage attenuation areas around both these watercourses and nearby Killingworth Lake, is set to cost around £6.5M on current estimates. Northumbrian Water is set to foot the bill for at least £4M of this, with between £1.5M and £2.5M coming from the other partners. Working together on the designs has meant that wider community benefits and environmental improvements are more likely to be built into such schemes. For example, Killingworth Lake is to be enhanced by walkways to improve angler access and greenery to aid habitat creation. An attenuation basin which needs to be put within the grounds of nearby Longbenton Community College is to be shaped into an amphitheatre which can be used as an open-air teaching facility for the students in the summer. "One of the things that the communities have welcomed is being able to see all the agencies standing together giving the same message," says Mike Madine, Sewerage and New Development Manager, Northumbrian Water. "We've built up a high degree of trust and mutual co-operation – we are essentially speaking with one voice when we talk to communities and design new schemes, and I think customers and communities appreciate that. We also get a lot of benefit ourselves, as we are able to share resources and knowledge bases and build integrated models which give us a much richer picture of the flood risk to a particular area. In addition to that, instead of engaging different consultants or contractors for the individual agencies we are making a single appointment and having only one procurement route so you save money on the design and delivery of the schemes." Kennedy admits that the partnership approach, with multiple inputs to the design in particular, can mean that it takes longer to get projects off the ground. But he says that this longer process is worth it for the eventual quality of schemes and that integration allows a pipeline of future projects to be planned many years in advance. "It definitely takes longer to take a partnership approach, and there are issues such as alignment of resources and funding that are well documented, but this is part of moving from a reactive to a proactive position," says Kennedy. "We started the Tyneside study in 2010 and some of the schemes coming from that are not going to be on site until 2017. That's a different timeframe from a straightforward property-level sewer flooding scheme, which we would hope to get done in an 18-24 month period. But I would emphasise that by engaging with and understanding the issues much earlier, we are taking a proactive approach and so we do have more time to think and plan, which can only be a good thing." Madine adds: "Working in partnership with the other agencies and local authorities has identified solutions that would not normally have been cost beneficial if a silo approach had been adopted, for example the Killingworth and Longbenton and Brunton Park schemes. This means that customers are having solutions delivered that would not normally be delivered if we worked in isolation." Schools engagement Northumbrian is also engaging schools in high-risk flooding areas in a parallel initiative in partnership with the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. This combines work to manage surface water at the school sites with an educational programme to teach the children about flooding, climate change and biodiversity. Installations such as ponds, wetlands, swales and rain gardens can be leveraged for educational benefit when visiting staff give talks to children. The approach has already been used at schools in Bishop Auckland, North Tyneside and Jarrow, and Northumbrian is looking to align these efforts with the Environment Agency's educational initiatives. Twelve such 'Community Action Plans', combining physical installations with awareness initiatives, have been identified for the next AMP with a potential total value of £30M. As well as schools, hospitals, shopping centres and community groups are likely to be involved. Finally, Northumbrian is also increasingly working in partnership with developers in their region. Through their good relationships with the local authorities, the company ensures it finds out as early as possible about prospective development so that it can influence the first designs. Its understanding of strategic housing land means that Northumbrian is confident of knowing where development will take place over the next 25 years. "There is a misconception that if you have a SuDS feature you will reduce the productivity or the number of units on a site," says Kennedy. "SuDS can be at a property level or a localised level, it doesn't have to be a huge pond taking up large areas www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | SEPTEMBER 2015 | 17 NWG project manager Elaine Smith at Woodhouse Community Primary School ● SuDS is rising up the agenda as urban expansion puts pressure on sewer capacity ● Integration sought rather than 'silo approach' of stakeholders working independently ● Need for costs to be shared in proportion to benefits received • Drivers NWG's Mike Madine and Martin Kennedy

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