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Urban areas neglected in flood defence drive
by environment correspondent Roger Harrabin |
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City-dwellers have been neglected in the drive to save households from flooding, the Royal Society will be told at a conference beginning today. The organiser, Professor Howard Wheater from Imperial College London, says that although the government and other authorities have worked hard to protect people from river flooding, they have largely ignored the problems of sewers overflowing in heavy rain.
Around ten thousand households last year were inundated by floodwater from rivers, according to Professor Wheater. Their misery dominated the news and stirred action from government. 7,000 families meanwhile saw their houses swamped by overflowing sewers but received scant attention from politicians and the media.
Professor Wheater says they're being neglected because responsibilities for urban drainage systems are split between the water companies, the environment agency and local councils, with no coherent flood-prevention plan. He wants to see government review the system, and he'd like more developers to use SUDS, sustainable urban drainage systems, in which rainfall on roofs is captured to flush lavatories and roads and car parks are made from porous material to allow the rain to soak into the soil instead of rushing into the sewers. He wants to see roads re-engineered to act as rivers at times of flood.
He says the issue is pressing because sewers flood much more frequently than rivers. They're designed to cope with a level of rainfall that's expected every five years whereas most rivers are protected against 50-year floods.
The conference will hear that issue like these will become more pressing because intense spells of rainfall are happening more frequently in winter - possibly because of climate change. A study by the University of East Anglia found that over 40 years, incidents of heavy winter rain three days in a row had increased by between 50 and 60%. Intense spells of summer rain had decreased.
Wheater says the water companies should be given responsibility for making sure that sewers can cope to standards set by government. When rainfall exceeds that level, the environment agency should be asked to ensure that people's homes don't get flooded. He wants them to consider simple options like redesigning roadside kerbs so that water is directed along the street systems instead of flowing chaotically to the lowest point - often houses. New culverts should be provided.
One celebrated example of SUDS is found at the (www.bedzed.org) in the London borough of Sutton.
The water from the roofs is collected and used for flushing lavatories and special porous surfaces have been used for the roads and car parking so that when it rains the water seeps into the soil instead of running off into the sewers. As a result the entire housing development of 80 homes and 30 offices produces only a fraction of the normal amount of load in the sewage system.
LINKS
- www.bedzed.org.uk
- www.peabody.org.uk
The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external websites
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Beddington zero energy project |
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