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Alastair Chisholm, Policy Director, at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) argues that not enough is being done to drive SuDS forward, calling on government to make it standard practice and to be properly mandated...
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Given the alignment of the public and professional sectors in calling for greater priority to be given to water resilience, it’s encouraging to see that many of the themes raised have been noticed by the current government. This includes in the Independent Water Commission’s Call for Evidence as part of the Cunliffe Review. In its ten key recommendations, the report highlights water management in urban settings as fragmented, poorly resourced and failing to prevent pollution runoff. It also highlights failings to unlock the potential of nature-based solutions, including a ‘sponge cities’ approach to ensure urban regeneration, resilience, and prosperity.
By utilising the natural functionality of the landscape, we can absorb, store, slow down, and clean water as it passes through, mitigating against surface water flooding and reducing storm sewage overflows. It focuses on using natural elements, such as green spaces, to soak up water, mimicking the natural water cycle. This effectively turns urban landscapes into ‘sponges’ capable of absorbing, storing, and reusing rainwater. Working with nature not against it Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) offer features that can be engineered into open spaces, streetscapes and buildings to deliver water and other wide-ranging outcomes. By managing water close to where it falls, SuDS prevent water from entering combined sewers that spill raw sewage, reducing the pressure on sewage treatment works, and helping treat the toxic contamination that runs off roads and into rivers. We’ve seen some progress with SuDS, but not enough.
The UK’s water resources are in a precarious state due to a lack of comprehensive action for decades now. We face a growing list of challenges, including an ageing water infrastructure, excessive pollution, and a society that still uses too much water. What we need is to focus on building a resilient water infrastructure that’s fit for purpose. Government plans for economic growth include building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. They also plan to shake up planning regulations to support this rapid growth, announcing £70bn of investment in Autumn’s Budget to ‘get Britain building’. But how can this many homes be built without adding further pressure on an already creaking infrastructure and further increasing the risk of flooding? Sadly, water has been an afterthought in urban design for far too long. With climate change making extreme weather events more
common and unpredictable, towns and cities must rethink how water is managed at every stage of development. This means limiting the impact that ambitious housing development has on our water infrastructure. The key to addressing housing challenges is to make it flood-
resilient and low-impact on water resources and nature. We must prioritise sustainability throughout the planning process and seek innovative, practical nature-based solutions to problems. A fresh water future Last year, we launched A Fresh Water Future report, which identifies the concerns, solutions and public appetite for change in managing the UK’s water resources.
The previous government committed to implementing Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, mandating SuDS in new developments with a route to long-term adoption and maintenance. But the current government is non-committal over whether it will take this forward. SuDS can be retrofitted in existing urban spaces, not just new
developments. This has been done at scale in places like Cardiff and Sheffield, solving problems and enhancing the local environment. SuDS retrofit can be done efficiently as other street works or utility upgrades are done. Initiatives like rainwater harvesting are widely implemented in other parts of the world and should become standard practice in developments, especially where water resources are under pressure. We can begin to build a climate-resilient nation with water-smart
communities equipped to face a future of increasingly extreme weather. We’re seeing projects already being piloted, such as the Enabling Water Smart Communities (EWSC) project, funded by Ofwat’s innovation programme. This cross-sector collaboration is working to develop scalable solutions for sustainable water use, particularly integrating water reuse, rainwater capture, and sustainable drainage into new developments. It offers a roadmap for sustainable development, but planners, builders and policymakers need to turn these ideas into reality. As floods and water scarcity impact our towns and cities, nature-based solutions must be front and centre to ensure resilience.
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