Legal

SUDS rise to the top

Amid general election fever a new piece of legislation has gone largely unnoticed – but it is of particular importance to public health engineers, writes Hywel Davies

J

une and July 2007 saw unprecedented rainfall across the UK, with major floods in several urban areas. Twelve people died and 48,000 homes and 7,000 businesses were flooded. As a result, the Pitt Commission was set up to investigate the tragedy, and the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 is now the government’s response. The act is one of those which, in the final days of the UK parliament, is part of the ‘wash-up’ of non-controversial legislation that has cross-party support and is speeded through to the statute book.

It aims to provide better, more comprehensive flood-

risk management for people, homes and businesses. There are currently 5m people living in flood-risk areas, and the act seeks to ensure that they are better protected. It also tackles bad debt in the water industry, improves affordability of water bills for community groups and individuals, and helps ensure continuity of water supplies to the consumer. But perhaps of greatest interest to public health engineers is the removal of the automatic right to connect to sewers, intended to encourage uptake of sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) and to provide for unitary and county councils to adopt SUDS for new developments and redevelopments. This is a significant change in the way that surface water disposal is handled. Current automatic connection rights mean that

most new developments rely on conventional means of disposal of surface water, rather than on SUDS. The act aims to encourage closer dialogue between the developer, designer and approval body to minimise the risk and potential impact of flooding from surface water run-off, and it introduces sustainable drainage as a legally defined concept. The new legislation amends section 106 of the Water Industry Act 1991 by introducing a new section, 106A, which removes the automatic right to connect to a surface water sewer. Only approved systems will have the right to do so, and the water company has limited rights of refusal for such connection. The act introduces a requirement for sustainable drainage systems to be approved prior to the start of construction by the county, district or borough council,

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CIBSE Journal May 2010

except for major projects consented under section 38 of the Planning Act 2008. The approving body must consult the water authority, but has no obligation to take their views into account when considering an application. The water company must accept the connection of an approved sustainable drainage system to their sewers. It also makes provision for the introduction of national standards for the design, construction, maintenance and operation of sustainable drainage systems. Consultation on these standards is promised, so the role of current CIRIA Guidance is not yet known (see sidebar). One other element of the act has

Sustainable drainage

wider relevance. At present, water companies can only restrict water usage by the implementation of hose pipe bans and the use of drought orders to manage their water supplies. The legislation introduces wider powers for water companies to restrict non-essential water usage such as pressure washing of patios and filling of swimming pools. But there is also provision for customers to be compensated for the period when their supply is restricted. The intention is to encourage water companies to take steps earlier to reduce the severity of a drought. Introducing a clear statutory basis for approval and implementation of SUDS is a key development for public health engineering. Such systems can now be incorporated into designs with greater certainty and knowledge that there is a clear basis for their approval and adoption, reducing risk to the client and promoting new approaches to surface water management and flood prevention. SUDS are no longer speculative, innovative or unusual – they are now mainstream water

engineering. l

For more information, visit www.defra.gov.uk/ environment/flooding/policy/fwmb The act can be found on the website of the Office of Public Service Information: www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/ acts2010/pdf/ukpga_20100029_en.pdf

Hywel Davies is technical director of CIBSE.

systems, or SUDs, are now mainstream water engineering

DEFINITION OF SUDS

‘Sustainable drainage’ means managing rainwater (including snow and other precipitation) with the aim of: reducing damage from flooding; improving water quality; protecting and improving the environment; protecting health and safety; and ensuring the stability and durability of drainage systems. The SUDS manual,

CIRIA Publication C697,

provides best practice guidance on planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of sustainable drainage systems to facilitate effective implementation within developments.

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