The
damage wreaked by the freak weather
conditions experienced across parts of
the UK this week, which saw up to100mm
of rain fall in one day, could not have
been prevented by better design,
engineers claimed.
But they accepted that it was possible to improve the water drainage
rate from urban areas affected this week
such as Hull, Selby and parts of Leeds
which suffered only surface water
flooding according to the Environment
Agency.
ICE vice president Jean Venables
said: “It has been an extreme event and
I don’t believe there are any systems
that could have coped with all of [the
flooding].”
But she said that continued
investment was needed to ensure that
less severe but more frequent flood
events could be managed.
Lincolnshire suffered both fluvial
and surface water flooding, and county
council director for highways and
traffic Paul Coathup agreed with
Venables. “We’ve had completely
unmanageable volumes of water,” he said.
“Whatever the shortcomings of the urban
drainage system, I don’t think any
improvements could have prevented this.”
Responsibility for urban drainage is
currently split between local
authorities, water companies and the
Agency. The Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is
running 15 pilot projects, managed by
consultant Halcrow, that aim to improve
urban drainage through closer working of
its various stakeholders.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if one of
the causes of surface water-only
flooding has been a disconnect between
the local authority, water company and
the Agency,” said Halcrow associate and
urban drainage project manager Elliot
Gill.
A breakdown in communication between
these stakeholders can lead to poor
maintenance and a poor understanding of
true urban drainage capacity, added
Gill.
He said that extreme events as seen
this week were expected to become more
prevalent due to climate change.
The pilot schemes accept that design
capabilities will be exceeded and look
for stakeholders to work together to
develop the best ways for water to
escape towns, such as the remodelling of
roads to act as flood channels.
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