WET News

4 WET NEWS NOVEMBER 2016 News+ Good monthT- Bad month Irish Water has lifted long-term boil water notices for two communities in Tipperary – one of which is now receiving water that is safe to drink for the first time in eight years. Southern Water is now recycling 100 per cent of its waste for the first time. It says that no waste from any of its works or offices has been sent to landfill since July. For Codsall restaurant Café Saffron, successfully prosecuted by Severn Trent Water for repeatedly blocking sewers with FOG. Café Saffron was ordered to pay £5,495, including costs. NI Water admitted an accidental discharge of polyelectrolyte from its Annsborough Wastewater Treatment Works caused a pollution incident. Flood risk review 'heightens role for SuDS' • National Risk Assessment will separate out fluvial and surface water flood risks, and enable a more targeted approach to planning for and managing the risk. S ustainable drainage systems (SuDS) experts have welcomed the greater recognition of the flood risks posed by surface water in the government's National Flood Resilience Review, and restated the crucial role of SuDS in managing this type of risk. Dr David Smoker, of ACO Water Management, a leading supplier of sustainable surface water management systems, believes the official recognition of risks from surface water flooding will bring a greater focus on the problems specific to urban areas in future studies such as the imminent 2016 National Risk Assessment (NRA) – and the contribution of SuDS to tackling this issue. According to figures from the Environment Agency (EA), some three million properties nationwide are at risk from surface water flooding, also known as 'flash flooding'. Dr Smoker explained: "Previous NRAs took minimal account of the impact of surface water flows. The 2014 NRA, for example, considered two flooding risks, coastal and inland, but the inland aspect focused almost exclusively on the issues of fluvial (river) flooding. "However, in the course of reviewing these risks for the National Flood Resilience Review, new modelling has confirmed the potentially severe consequences of surface water flooding. It has also acknowledged for the first time the varying distribution of fluvial and surface water flood risk across the UK – with surface water flooding the biggest risk in urban areas. "The 2016 NRA will therefore separate out fluvial and surface water flood risks and so enable a much more targeted approach to planning for and managing the risk of surface water flooding – both nationally and locally. "This will be accompanied by a wide-ranging review of planning legislation, government planning policy and www.z-tech.co.uk 01223 653500 engineers@z-tech.co.uk Complete one-stop in-house solutions from dig to data: • Flowmeters • PRV's & Needle Valves • Burst Detection • Pumping Sets & Stations • Pressure & Level Monitoring Complete one-stop in-house Problem Solvers 24/7 EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICE CONTRACT WINS • BAM Nuttall has been awarded a £23M contract for a major flood defence scheme in Hull. The company, working in joint venture with Mott MacDonald, will carry out vital work to design and build new defences at several locations along the River Hull, as well as upgrading the existing defences. • Atkins is to provide engineering, commercial and environmental consultancy services to Thames Water under a new professional services framework. The frame- work runs until about 2030, and is central to Thames Water's long- term strategy to tackle challenges including population growth, climate change and new regulations. • Turner & Townsend is to provide commercial outperformance and construction economics services for the next five years to Anglian Water. The consultancy along with two other compa- nies, AECOM and Mott MacDonald, will provide a collaborative all-inclusive framework of commercial services over Anglian's capital and operational programmes. Scottish government will not relax environmental standards post Brexit • Scotland's environment secretary clarifies its position, saying protecting the environment is essential to Scotland's prosperity. T he Scottish government has "no intention" of relaxing European environmental standards a›er Brexit, the Scottish environment secretary has insisted. Speaking at WWT's Water Scotland conference in Glasgow last month, Roseanna Cunningham said: "I want to clarify our position as regards compliance with European Union directives and the issue of Brexit. This government has no intention of relaxing standards. "Anybody out there that thinks that, from the perspective of that kind of compliance, that leaving the EU will mean a relaxation is dead wrong. We do not believe that is the right way to go. Those standards are in Scotland's best interest, providing safe, clean drinking water and protecting the environment, all of which we see as essential to Scotland's prosperity." She added that climate change will present challenges to the resilience of Scottish Water's infrastructure, and pointed out that the floods in early 2016 were "a perfect example". "We need to understand the likely impacts and plan accordingly," she said, adding that Scottish Water "can't plan or deliver improvements on its own". The company will need the help of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, land managers and local authorities and local community groups, she said. She also told delegates that, although customer engagement has improved "markedly" over the years, they must "work even harder" to explain the water industry to customers, particularly given the challenges, such as climate change, that it faces. "To put it another way, the days of the silent service need to come to an end," she said. "I know that Scottish Water is working with customers and has had considerable success from its advertising campaign – Keep the Cycle Working Smoothly. A 10% reduction in sewer blockages, as a consequence of this campaign, is a pretty good result. "However, I do want to encourage you all to continue to work in partnership with Scottish Water to engage with customers on a range of issues, such as improvements at bathing waters and environmental compliance, for example." The varying distribution of fluvial and surface water flood risk across the UK has been acknowledged local planning policies around sustainable drainage in England – which will inform the work of the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change and, in turn, its 2017 progress update on the National Adaptation Plan." According to Dr Smoker, this process will reposition the focus on SuDS as a key contributor to flood risk reduction in urban areas. "There have been many fine examples of SuDs implementa- tion in the last decade but even now each project still has to be argued on its merits. Some con- tractors have remained unwill- ing to embrace SuDs to the point at which it becomes the normal way of managing flood risk. This has not been helped by a lack of strong legislation and a focus on 'big ticket' projects in other areas such as river defences. "However, as well as the messages coming out of the Resilience Review, a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote in June entitled 'Adapting Urban Areas to Flooding' highlighted that there is no single solution to urban flooding and that SuDs is a vital part of a ra› of measures needed to reduce this risk. "It is my hope that we are get- ting close to the tipping point at which SuDS, properly integrated "There have been many fine examples of SuDs implementation in the last decade but even now each project still has to be argued on its merits. Some contractors have remained unwilling to embrace SuDs to the point at which it becomes the normal way of managing flood risk" Dr David Smoker, ACO Water Management into a strategic flood risk management pro- gramme, becomes the default process to man- age surface water in urban areas."

• Cover