WET News

4 WET NEWS MARCH 2016 News+ CONTRACT WINS Good monthT- Bad month The North West England River Basin Management Plan is among the first- ever Integrated Projects to receive funding from the EC under the LIFE programme for the environment. The EA released record numbers of coarse fish into England's rivers in 2015, partly because of improved water quality. For Reading Borough Council which faces a £750K reservoir repair bill – even though the reservoir sits outside its boundaries in Wokingham. Around 660 flood defences have been identified by the EA as needing repair work in the wake of December's record-breaking wet weather. Council backs Blue-Green infrastructure plan • Organisations, including Arup and Northumbrian Water, pledge to plan to implement measures such as SuDS. N ewcastle City Council (NCC) has committed to implementing large scale blue-green infrastructure measures such as sustainable drainage (SuDS), following research that showed the potential gains of the approach. The council has backed research from the Blue-Green Cities Consortium, led by the University of Nottingham, which found that increasing the amount of storage ponds, water channels, green roofs, green walls and green space (known as blue and green infrastructure) in Newcastle could make a significant contribution to reducing flood risk, as well as improving air quality and biodiversity. It comes following estimates for NCC which highlighted a £70M gap to keep flood risk on the Ouseburn and City Centre at current levels by 2030, accounting for growth, paving over open space, and climate change. Local partners are already working together to embed these approaches into the city, including in the final masterplan for 'Science Central' – a new state-of-the-art urban water research facility that is part of Newcastle University's new Urban Sciences Building – as well as creating more stormwater storage space for water by diverting a section of the Ouseburn at Brunton Park. • Lanes Group's has been commissioned to clear more than 100 tonnes of silt from a large storm drain as part of the Morfa Distributor Road project in Wales. The 200m-long storm drain, between 600mm and 900mm in diameter, is due to be connected to the new surface water drainage system for the road. • Nivus is to supply ultrasonic and radar flow measurement systems for Thames Water's sewage treatment and channel networks. The multimillion-pound framework is the first that Nivus has been awarded by Thames Water. • The EA has awarded the contract to develop its new future flood warnings system to Fujitsu Services. Work under the contract, which is estimated to be worth around £4.6M, will build on the Floodline Warnings Direct (FWD) service which came into operation in 2006. The findings have led NCC, the Environment Agency, Northumbrian Water, Newcastle University, Arup and Royal HaskoningDHV, to join forces and be the first organisations in the country to explicitly commit to a blue-green approach, as recommended by the research. By signing a pledge, they hope that other local and national organisations will join them in their aspiration to make such approaches common across England. Professor Colin Thorne, from the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham, who led the research, said: "The project has provided us with new insights, which not only confirm how effective using blue-green infrastructure can be, but give cities the tools to implement it. The city council and all stakeholders have been so engaged, and the launch of the pledge can only help maintain momentum." Cllr Ged Bell, cabinet member for Investment and Development, with responsibility for climate change at NCC, said: "The research is clear – increasing blue and green infrastructure offers significant added value for the city. Smart investments such as this support our efforts for more and better jobs, and can help shield our most vulnerable residents from flooding. This is a new way of working with partners to make such approaches a reality." Northumbrian Water's wastewater director, Richard Warneford, said: "Flooding causes so much devastation and is a horrendous experience for people to go through. Signing this pledge further demonstrates our commitment to reducing flood risk. Having access to such insightful research and working with partners from so many different types of organisations, all with varying knowledge, expertise and information, will enable us to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to protect homes and businesses from flooding." 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According to Ham Baker's Spares Maintenance & Service division, an increasing amount of equipment is being burnt out from over-use, with the same now unsuitable control philosophy still in place from when it was first installed, perhaps over decade ago or even longer. It said there was a need for more education, training and dialogue between operators and service companies. "If the industry is serious about totex then it needs to raise the bar and work much more closely with those who can and want to protect important assets, and who are willing to take on performance-based service contracts", said Ray Haydon, director of Ham Baker's Correct use of assets vital if totex is to succeed Spares Maintenance and Service Division. He added: "We keep hearing that totex means a more holistic approach, so surely we can all do better than someone randomly calling up with nothing more to add to their statement of 'It's broke!'." Haydon said that the problem was sometimes caused simply by changes in site personnel, but without a proper preventative maintenance programme, the service division from the company that carried out the original installation is not usually asked to come back and help. He said: "At Ham Baker we offer a free consultation on control philosophy because we believe that your assets equal our reputation. A guaranteed supply of OEM parts is also very important, as well as ensuring that a performance-based service contract includes a guaranteed stock of job-specific critical parts." New modelled estimates of damage show the June 2012 flood event caused £78M damage to the local economy A deeper understanding is needed of how to overcome the challenges in implementing blue and green infrastructure A new, cutting edge model is required to test how blue and green infrastructure reduces flood risk in the city A new way for local authorities and their partners to map the extra benefits that using blue and green infrastructure provides compared to hard engineering solutions Blue-green measures such as SuDS will help reduce flood risk

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