THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
FLOODS & SUDS
properties in England will be hit by flooding. The alarming assessment by researchers covers 4.8 million properties sold between 2006 and 2022, with the regions most vulnerable to flooding including East Anglia, North West, and Yorkshire.
With this adding to the homebuyers’ fears, Wavin revealed that insurance premiums were considered important to 99% of those surveyed.
Fortunately, a joint initiative between the Government and insurers is working to make the flood cover aspect of household insurance policies more affordable. With hundreds of thousands of homes across the UK potentially becoming harder to insure because they’re at high risk of flooding, Flood Re will provide much needed support by lowering premiums for at-risk households.
With flooding becoming a very real fear for buyers, potential homeowners are now eager to find out what developers are doing to protect their new homes. An overwhelming 98% of those surveyed by Wavin agreed that they would like to know the detail of any flood prevention measures in place before buying a home.
Wavin has revealed that flood defences such as sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are among the initiatives that homebuyers are willing to pay more for when selecting a new home. Unfortunately, many potential buyers are unaware of what SuDS actually are, which calls for urgent action to raise awareness.
Shockingly, 72% of respondents admitted to never having heard of SuDS and according to Wavin the lack of awareness surrounding this crucial flood prevention measure is deeply
concerning.
Martin Lambley, Product Manager for Urban Climate Resilience Northwest Europe, UK, and Ireland at Wavin, said: “Developers and housebuilders who gloss over the benefits of SuDS are selling themselves short, flood resilience is now becoming a major factor when purchasing a home, as the research shows.
“Schedule 3 legislation of the Flood and Water Management Act (2010) that will make sustainable drainage mandatory on new developments will mean that developers will need to become fluent in SuDS, and the findings of this research clearly demonstrate that the housebuilding industry should see it as an opportunity rather than an obligation.”
With new builds set to be protected by SuDS it’s no surprise that 2022 saw an unprecedented surge in the popularity of new build houses, with a staggering 84% of potential buyers considering homes within new developments.
Latest sewage spills a timely reminder for industry to better care for water
Following news of Welsh Water admitting it illegally spilled untreated sewage in environmentally protected areas, ACO Technologies calls for everyone in the industry to better care for water to avoid similar scenarios of treatment plants being overwhelmed in future.
It was revealed by the BBC that Welsh Water, the water company that serves three million people across Wales, has been releasing untreated sewage across many of its treatment plants for years. Often, the reason for sewage plants spilling untreated water is due to heavy rain and stormwater overwhelming a treatment plant’s capacity.
The revelation goes further, with Welsh Water having between ’40 and 50’ wastewater treatment plants reportedly in breach of their permits. In a year which has seen water scarcity and storage challenges make headlines, David Smoker, Technical Director of
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ACO Technologies, the UK’s leading water technology and drainage company, says that the industry should not be passing blame. Instead, he urges that everyone should work together on a common goal of creating sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) to avoid stormwater overwhelming treatment plants in future.
David said: “It is certainly distressing to hear that untreated sewage has been entering our natural environment again, and particularly worrying to see that it is happening on a regular occurrence at multiple wastewater sites. Water is a precious commodity, as are the natural habitats and wildlife that we enjoy in the UK. Everybody within the construction industry must do what they can to prevent stormwater from surging into treatment plants and overwhelming them, as that will inevitably lead to the collapse of our ecosystems.
“This problem is not beyond the realm of our control though, so December 2023 | 43
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