Water & Wastewater Treatment

8 | NOVEMbEr 2015 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Comment Time for a more integrated approach Where this approach involves the attenuation of peak flows in riverside rural reservoirs, it can simultaneously play a vital role in assuring the availability of water for agriculture during dry spells, a sector arguably under the greatest threat from future floods and droughts. Against this background, the Welsh Government Department for Natural Resources is to be highly applauded for recognising these linkages in its dra•ing of a sustainable drainage (SuDS) policy that flags up water storage for subsequent re-use as its preferred method of avoiding floods. This far-sighted policy fully recognises that water is an important natural resource, but one that potentially causes economic and environmental damage in the event of floods. So the aim is to tackle flood risks in ways that also help to avoid water shortages by storing rainwater for subsequent non-potable use. This integrated approach to rainfall management is so blindingly obvious, it is hard to understand why a similar approach is not taken in the more water-stressed parts of the UK, such as the south and south-east of England. No-one at the conference could offer a reasoned explanation for why this is, but presumably, avoidance of additional cost and complexity must be part of the reason. This places a premium on the water re-use sector to design integrated SuDS and water re-use systems that over their lifetime, taking maintenance into account, are more cost- effective than single purpose systems. What we cannot afford to do is simply ignore predicted future flood and drought risks and wait for them to arrive. Building up the capacity to resist both will take time and resources that cannot instantly be applied when emergencies are upon us. Neither can we be single-minded in addressing just one of our three water-related challenges by, for example, investing in flood defences that potentially exacerbate drought risks by making rivers more efficient conduits for getting rainfall out to sea. So full marks to WWT for organising such an excellent high-quality conference, and one which for a change pointed up the need for an integrated approach to all aspects of rainfall management. Terry Nash is director of the UK Rainwater Management Association: www.ukrma.org TeRRy NAsh DirEcTOr UK raiNWaTEr MaNagEMENT assOciaTiON a joined-up approach to tackling the challenges of floods and droughts must involve excess rainwater being considered a resource for the future W hat a very great pleasure it was to attend this year's WWT Sustainable Water Conference, staged in the usual splendid style at the Birmingham City Centre Holiday Inn. Of particular delight was the opportunity to talk about water around a central theme of Integrated Water Resources Management, rather than the somewhat one- dimensional approach taken at the various flood- related events which have dominated this year's conference scene. As the opening speaker Professor Ian Barker of the University of Exeter succinctly explained, the management of rainfall in the UK poses three interlinked challenges: the need to avoid excessive rainfall causing floods, the need to avoid water shortages, and the requirement for water quantity and quality to meet the needs of people and the environment. The importance of managing these three themes in an integrated and effective way is further highlighted by the existing stresses on water supplies throughout much of southern England, and the future increasing pressures on supplies caused by population growth. Changing patterns of rainfall are also expected to increase the future incidence of both floods and droughts. The importance of tackling these future problems in an integrated way was also well- illustrated at the conference by Arlin Rickard, CEO of The Rivers Trust, who addressed the subject of solving flood risks at source through catchment management.

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