Flood Action Week - It's Time to be Proactive

January 23, 2020

As it’s #FloodActionWeek we thought it was about time we gave you our thoughts!

If you have read James’ new year missive at the start of the year you will know this is a topic that is often on our mind and a key driver behind the work that we do. Climate scientists are now saying, the weather is getting more variable with the swings getting more extreme. While we acknowledge there is a lot of work that needs to be done on climate change, Envireau Water’s focus is on preparing for all variable weather from flooding to droughts, as this affects everyone.


The impact of flooding is not just felt while it’s in the headlines, the effects are often long lasting and difficult to recover from. Economically it can take years for individuals to rebuild their lives either from repairing damaged homes or farmers recovering from lost crops and damaged soils. There is also a mental health impact, as noted by many during Flood Action Week, as a result of becoming homeless; financial worries and lives being turned upside down.


So, what can be done?

With approximately 2.4 million properties at risk from river (fluvial) flooding in the UK, it is time that everyone (individuals and companies) in flood risk areas, think seriously about what would happen if their house flooded:


  • Do you have an escape plan?
  • Do you have adequate supplies if you are trapped inside a building?
  • Do you have insurance to cover economic losses due to flooding?


We can’t fight mother nature; a short history lesson will teach you that rivers always win in the end. It is therefore, more important than ever that we adopt a proactive approach rather than reactive. That means we need to prepare ourselves by increasing our resilience and resistance to flooding and capture the positives, yes believe it or not flooding creates opportunities!


Where do we start?

From small to large scales we have to look at how we are designing and maintaining our homes. Only this week a BBC news report highlighted the fact that new housing is dominated by roads with new homes typically having smaller green spaces than development in previous years. We must consider runoff and employ SuDS techniques to better effect, to reduce the impact of new developments and prevent increasing flood risk elsewhere.


What positives are there?

An opportunity that arises from flooding is through the storage of flood water. Currently in the UK the majority of flood water drains out to sea, if we could capture this, store this water and remove it from the system, it would not only reduce flood peaks but also provide a water resource which is currently lost to the sea. This requires a catchment based management approach which is difficult and expensive to administer in today’s structure.


How we can help?

We can help you take a proactive approach; our surface water team have extensive experience in flood risk assessment & mapping, flood resilience design; as well as SUDs and storage optimisation. Get in touch with us to discuss what mitigation measures you could benefit from on 01332 871 882 or james@envireauwater.co.uk.


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