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UTILITY WEEK | 27TH NOVEMBER - 3RD DECEMBER 2015 | 19 Customers THE 12 PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES WORST AFFECTED BY FLOODING Boston and Skegness (Anglian Water) Great Yarmouth (Anglian Water) Windsor (Thames Water) Runnymede and Weybridge (Thames Water) Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Southern Water) Canterbury (Southern Water) Folkestone and Hythe (Southern Water) Vale of Clwyd (Welsh Water) Clwyd West (Welsh Water) Aberconwy (Welsh Water) Leeds Central (Yorkshire Water) Nottingham South (Severn Trent Water) Source: Association of British Insurers (ABI) Who is responsible for what? ENGLAND AND WALES Water and sewerage companies manage the risk of flooding to water supply and sewerage facilities and the risk to others from the failure of their infrastructure. They are also responsible for clearing properties affected by sewer flooding. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh government develop flood and coastal erosion risk management policy in England and Wales. The Environment Agency manages flood risk from the sea and rivers and also monitors the quality of watercourses. County councils are the lead local bodies developing strategies to tackle groundwater flooding. District and borough councils have powers for managing flood risk from ordinary watercourses. SCOTLAND Scottish Water is responsible for the drainage of rainwater run-off (surface water) from roofs and paved ground surfaces within property boundaries. The company also helps to protect homes from flooding caused by sewers either overflowing or becoming blocked. Local authorities are responsible for the drainage of local roads and public highways. They are also responsible for dealing with tidal and river flooding and flooding caused by extreme rainfall. They look aer flood defences and maintain watercourses. The Scottish government is responsible for motorway and major trunk roads drainage through Transport Scotland. It is responsible for making national policy on planning, flood prevention and flood warning. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for provid- ing flood advice and flood warnings. NORTHERN IRELAND Northern Ireland Water is required to provide and maintain sewers for draining domestic sewage, surface water and trade effluent. Transport NI is responsible for gullies and drains within the road structure. The Rivers Agency is the statutory drainage and flood protection author- ity for Northern Ireland. implementation of flood defences. In a writ- ten parliamentary question, Lord Moynihan also asked whether a "full and transparent tender process" would be launched, and if the water companies' work on flood defences would fall outside their regulated duties. Lord Gardiner confirmed that the govern- ment has not asked water companies to do more, and is not planning to launch a tender process. Working around the clock Water firms are already working "around the clock" to deal with the effects of flooding. United Utilities says its engineers worked with the Environment Agency to help protect people's homes from flooding during the lat- est bout of bad weather. "We draed in extra staff over the weekend to deal with a 98 per cent increase in flood-related calls," says United Utilities wastewater network manager Tony Griffiths. Anglian Water says it plans to use tens of millions of its £5 billion AMP6 investment to alleviate and mitigate flooding to "ensure resilient services" for its customers. A spokeswoman tells Utility Week: "Barney did not hit our region, thankfully, but of course we have been subjected to severe storms in the past – such as Bertha and the tidal surge – and will again in the future." She says Anglian has set aside £8 million for Flood Partnership Projects – a pot of cash that can be used over the AMP to jointly fund flood projects. "This will enable councils and other organisations across the region to bid for funds to deliver improvements that will prevent flooding inside people's homes," she says. "The money has been set aside specifi- cally to overcome the challenges presented by the complex, interconnected drainage network that exists in every town and city, which various organisations and agencies are responsible for." Southern Water has also spent millions of pounds on flood protection over the past few years by increasing the capacity of the sew- erage system in the most vulnerable areas. "Last year we delivered the latest phase of our £12 million programme to survey and seal sewers across our region, preventing rising groundwater, river and surface water from forcing its way into our pipework," a spokeswoman for the company says. Currently, no organisation has sole responsibility for flooding in Britain. In Eng- land and Wales, the Environment Agency remains the lead agency on flooding, and will be spending £2.3 billion over the next six years to reduce flood risk to 300,000 proper- ties. There has, thus far, been no regulatory change to the role water firms play. £2.2bn annual cost of flood- ing and managing flood risk in the UK £3.5bn planned flood defence spend in the latest National Infra- structure Pipeline £2.3bn amount EA will spend over the next six years to reduce flood risk £818m spent by EA on flood and coastal erosion risk management in England in 2014/15 5.2m English properties at risk of flooding 7in amount of rain in Cumbria in 12 hours on 16 November £1,000 maximum payment by sewerage firms to customers if internal damage is caused to their property from sewer flooding 443 repeat incidents of internal flooding of properties from sewers in 2014/15 £86m financial settlement agreed by Thames Water in June 2014 for misreporting of sewer flooding data KEY NUMBERS