THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
MAIN FEATURE
Water treatment process. Courtesy Thames Water
over the world we see images of rivers and waterways drying up, sometimes through over-extraction, and we are told the oceans are rising and will consume more land in time.
But enough of global statistics and back to the UK. Whilst our drinking water is of excellent quality – you can usually safely drink it straight from the tap – the quality of surface water in rivers, on the coast and for outdoor swimming is not so great. However, this article isn’t about water quality; it’s about where water goes after it falls as rain or after we’ve used it in our homes and businesses.
Where does our water go?
Our water does have to be treated when it lands in our water treatment plants, and raw sewerage, containing a lot of water, also has to be treated. Then it’s pushed back out to us as mostly potable water. We can of course sometimes collect rainwater and use that as non-potable water. Some commercial buildings, businesses and forward-thinking consumers harvest their roof run-off to flush toilets. Then it’s all back into the system again to be treated and sent out once more.
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Asking where water comes from and where it goes to may seem obvious: surely it eventually soaks back into the ground or into our reservoirs and rivers and ultimately flows into the seas that surround us? Well, yes, but in the meantime the damage excess water or contaminated water can do is significant. The power of water surging is something to behold – but not something you’d want to be in the way of. It can toss aside heavy vehicles and buildings as if they were made of matchsticks, and the amount of mud and earth it can move is also terrifyingly impressive. We’ve seen and heard many reports of people whose vehicles have suddenly become overwhelmed by a rush of water, with them ending up clinging on to the roofs awaiting rescue from above or being washed downstream, sometimes with fatal consequences. We’ve also seen the usual idiotic driving, not checking the depth of a road flood, driving blithely into it only to come to a juddering stop at the deepest point. And where towns have been flooded, heavy vehicles getting blamed for creating ‘waves’ as they drive through flooded streets to rescue others. That excess water isn’t clean either: it contains sewerage washed back up from our drains during major flooding events, so is
a real health hazard. Yes, it seems too much water can indeed be a real pain as well as hazardous to our health.
Our Victorian sewers in recent years have started to become overwhelmed by the sheer quantities of water and sewerage travelling through them, as we face higher populations, more rainfall and more extreme weather events. The water companies have been in the spotlight for issues with discharging too often to rivers and sea, probably a reflection again of increased ‘excess water’ events and an overwhelmed network.
We currently have a variety of ways in which to disperse our rainwater, from guttering on our homes to storm drains, from permeable paving to specially designated flood plains, from creating mini-reservoirs to tree and plant filled basins, from proper SuDS underneath parking areas and driveways. But it’s obviously not yet enough.
When the rivers overflow due to excessive rainfall we are having to shore up flood defences and build flood barriers, which sometimes seem to work, sometimes not. Sometimes it just transfers the problem further downstream. Yes, there is often too much water about these days.
The Government has just announced a March 2025 | 5
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