Jul 13 2007
Five times as many homes and businesses were flooded by overflowing drains and sewers as were affected by river flooding in the recent floods, is the message the Environment Agency Board will hear when they meet this week.
The Board, who are meeting in Derby, will be warned that without action to design, plan and build ‘climate change proof’ drains and sewers, events that we have seen over the past weeks will happen more regularly.
Thousands of cases of sewer and drain flooding are reported each year costing the country an estimated £270 million.
"The full and true cost of the recent floods in the Northeast, Midlands and East Anglia are yet to be revealed. What we do know is that tragically people lost their lives and sadly thousands of homes have been ruined." Chairman of the Environment Agency Sir John Harman said.
"Many people were flooded by rivers, but many more homes in places like Hull were flooded by surface water from drains that were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of rainfall. Although people are generally aware of the threat of flooding from rivers, they know less of the threat that exists beneath their feet from their drains."
"We need to take action now by making sure our cities and systems are better designed for extreme weather events. For example, sustainable drainage techniques such as permeable pavements, underground storage lagoons and specially designed roofs can help prevent drainage and flood defence systems from becoming overloaded."
Urban flooding is an unpleasant mix of water from sewers, rivers, groundwater, and intense rain run-off from roads, roofs and land. Responsibility for managing these different sources of water is divided between different organisations, including Water Companies, Local Authorities and the Environment Agency. The problem will increase with development pressures, climate change and ageing infrastructure.
The Environment Agency is calling for a shift from the current reactive "after the flood" response to a proactive, risk based approach, which would help prevent the problem before it happens. This would bring management of urban flooding in line with activity to manage flooding from other sources.
Sir John continued: "Urban flooding will only be tackled effectively by key organisations, like local authorities, water companies and ourselves working together to longer term plans which take account of climate change. We have seen this work in Carlisle, Bradford and Glasgow. We will be playing our part in the Defra urban drainage pilots to tackle this problem."
"We believe local authorities are best placed to co-ordinate the production of these plans, whereas the Environment Agency is best placed to advise on their production and make sure they will work in the long term. We need to start climate-change proofing our cities now."