Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The drama of drainage in the UK

Edie.net: New legislation on water management and flood prevention must make responsibilities clear, ensure adequate funding is provided and tackle the issue of SUDS [--Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems]. Those were the calls from the Environment Agency, local authorities, water companies and other bodies involved in water and flooding as they gathered to discuss the forthcoming Floods and Water Bill.

A draft version of the bill is currently being drawn up by Government and is expected to be published in the spring. But the bodies that will be working on the ground to implement the measures in the bill told Government what they wanted to see in the bill at a recent CIWEM conference, in London.

The Environment Agency said one of the major issues it wants to see addressed in the bill is Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). Elliot Robertson, flood and coastal risk management at the agency, said: "We need to improve surface water management. "This is the key gap in the legislation that needs to be filled. We want Surface Water Management Plans and SUDS firmly adopted and maintained."…

"Brown" green roof and rainwater system at The Green Shop, Bisley, Gloucestershire, UK. Shot by thingermejig, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License

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