Tagged: flood
Wigan Flood Alleviation Scheme Wins ICE Award
CONGRATULATIONS to all involved in the Wigan Flood Alleviation Scheme which fought off stiff competition to win the Large Project Award at the North West Civil Engineering Awards 2013. According to the ICE’s North West branch report the £11.2 million scheme “stood out for several reasons: It was well optioneered; it was a non-mechanical sustainable [...]
CIWEM – Surface Water Flooding and Management
The aim of this conference is to set out the context, scale and impact of surface water flooding and show how we are moving through the important phases of mapping and planning to deliver schemes to manage the risk of flooding to communities.
ICE Flooding 2013 – Developing Flood Resilient Communities
The conference will bring together senior level industry professionals to hear detailed case studies covering planning, buildings and urban fabric, and public engagement. Delegates will take away key messages that will help deliver change with insights into how to formulate a coordinated approach in preparing for the future.
£5 Million fund for Community Flood Schemes Announced
Thirteen communities across the country will benefit from a £5 million fund to come up with innovative projects that will better protect homes and businesses from the risk of flooding, Environment Minister Richard Benyon announced today. The scheme is aimed at protecting communities where flooding is a major problem and the projects will be required [...]
Britain: Steel yourself for climate extremes, warns EA
BRITAIN should steel itself for the extremes of drought and flood and act urgently to be ready for the effects of climate change, Environment Agency Chairman Lord Chris Smith has warned. Publishing new figures that demonstrate the ‘feast and famine’ effects on water supply and flooding, the Environment Agency called on water companies, farmers and [...]
Defra Gives £294m Green Light for 93 Flood Defences
The Department of Environment and Rural Affairs has announced that more than 64,000 more homes will be better protected from flooding after 93 new flood defences were given the green light to start construction this year. With £294 million to be invested in flood risk management this year, 165,000 homes are now expected to be [...]
Government: Too Slow to Tackle Flooding say MPs
The Government has been too slow to implement changes that would protect homes and businesses from the shattering effects of flooding and needs to get on with implementing them, MPs have warned in the run-up to scrutiny of the draft Water Bill. The select committee for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) sets out the [...]
CIWEM: Invest in flood infrastructure or homeowners will suffer
Increased investment in flood infrastructure and more robust, realistic planning policies must be implemented soon, warns the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) to avoid homeowners being left ‘up the creek without a paddle’. Underinvestment in the UK’s flood infrastructure is unacceptable and insurers should be proactive in investing alongside Government, said the [...]
UK Needs Strategies to Save and Store More Rainwater, says ICE
The Institution of Civil Engineers has called for a coherent strategy to store and save rainwater, after 2012 was declared the UK’s second wettest year on record. The ICE is calling for a UK-wide Water Security Task Force to be set up to support the development of a more coherent approach to managing drought and [...]
Delivering Flood Schemes Funding, Partnership and Opportunities
The CIWEM Rivers and Coastal Group Annual Conference. The aim of this conference will be to take stock of the changes that have taken place in the funding, planning and delivery of Flood and Coastal Risk Management schemes and seek to determine both the successes and blockers identified during initial application of the process. 30 [...]
£120m Of New Flood Defence Funding Could Protect 60,000 Homes and Boost Growth
£120 million in new funding will speed up the delivery of flood defences that could protect up to 60,000 homes and deliver up to £1 billion of economic benefits, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has announced. £60 million of the funding will be targeted at areas where flood defences can unlock new opportunities for [...]
Cornwall Council Seeks Funding Reassurances from Government
Cornwall Council is to write to the Defra Minister seeking assurances that the Government will continue to provide funding to enable the authority to carry out its responsibilities for flood management. The Flood and Water Management Act introduced by the Government in 2010 gave local councils a number of new statutory duties related to flood [...]
Floods Crisis: Government Indecision and Delay “Must Stop Now”
As Britain is gripped by a floods crisis, Government indecision and inertia is seriously delaying vital work to protect thousands of homes and properties in the UK. Devastating flooding could cause £millions of damage in scenes reminiscent of the 2007 floods which prompted a groundbreaking Government review by Sir Michael Pitt. Yet how much real [...]
ABI: Government Flood Insurance Talks “at an Impasse”
ABI statement on flood insurance The ABI has called for the Government to commit to a joint solution to ensure long term affordable flood insurance for high-risk households, describing the current state of talks aimed at reaching an agreement as being “at an impasse”. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has consistently lobbied for a [...]
Local Authority Survey – SuDS: The State of the Nation
Engineering Nature’s Way is launching SuDS: The State of the Nation, a national survey to investigate local authorities’ preparations for new SuDS approving roles and to gain insights into their vision for the use of SuDS in future. The survey follows the Government’s announcement of a further delay in the start-up of the new SuDS [...]
Have We Really Moved on Since Pitt?
2012 has been another landmark year for flooding across the UK. Once again we have been reminded of water’s deadly and devastating potential to wreak human misery. Our summer began with widespread fears of severe drought before melting into floods. After an ‘Olympic’ respite, the floods began again, bringing ever-more dramatic scenes to our TV [...]
NCE Flood Management Conference
4th – 5th December 2012 Dexter House, London The risks and challenges of managing flood risks and protecting property have never been more important and close to the minds of Local Authorities and engineers following recent flooding in June. Further information and registration details can be found here.
Wigan’s Hydro-Brake® Flood Defences in Action
Heavy June rain put the Environment Agency’s £12million Flood Alleviation Scheme on the River Douglas through its first major test as torrential downpours spectacularly filled its radical new flood storage area. At the centre of the dam, just a mile from the town centre, two giant Hydro-Brake® Flow Controls successfully held back flood waters in [...]
Torrential Rain Tests Wigan’s Hydro-Brake® Flood Defences
Heavy June rain put the Environment Agency’s £12million Flood Alleviation Scheme on the River Douglas through its first major test as torrential downpours spectacularly filled its radical new flood storage area. At the centre of the dam, just a mile from the town centre, two giant Hydro-Brake® Flow Controls successfully held back flood waters in [...]
The Top 7 Unanswered Questions on SuDS Standards
With one voice, a cry for ‘clarity, clarity, clarity’ has gone out to Government in response to the National SuDS Standards consultation. There are strong indications that both local government and industry believe the standards, as they currently stand, are not yet fit for purpose. The devil is definitely in the detail as far as [...]
Retrofit SuDS Solves St Ives Flooding
A retrofit SuDS scheme, based on Hydro International’s stormwater storage and infiltration technologies and Hydro-Brake® Flow Controls has alleviated flooding problems at a busy town car park, caused by the frequent heavy rainfall.
Surface Water Management 2012
The annual CIWEM conference will focus on direction, policy and practice. Thinking from across the world is helping to set out how surface water management fits into the broader context of water in the urban environment. The developing ideas envisage multiple benefits accruing from a wide variety of schemes and projects
Water and Ecosystem Goods and Services
Translating this into operation in the ‘real world’ The aim of this meeting organised by CIWEM will be to accelerate the practical application of ecosystem goods and services thinking into workable procedures throughout the wider water sector, including the periodic review process to 2014, water quality (WFD 2015), water resources and flooding, in order to [...]
Flood Warnings – But no End to Drought
The Environment agency issued flood warnings across the South West, Midlands, North East and East of England as stong winds and heavy rain dominated the weekend weather. Thousands of homes were left without electricity and more than 25 flood warnings were in place according to the BBC’s round up of flooding problems across the worst-affected [...]
It never rains….?
As drought was followed by deluge, recent weather patterns underlined the urgency of finding sustainable means of controlling surface water flows has not diminished.Flooding exacerbated by a ground hardened through drought prevented surface water infiltrating through the soil. Climate change is leading both to longer, dryer periods and to more intense storm events, which meteorologists [...]
CIRIA Launches Retrofit SuDs Guidance
CIRIA is launching its much-anticipated guidance on Retrofitting to Manage Surface Water at a series of events across the UK this week. According to CIRIA, this important guidance document “promotes a different approach to managing surface water run-off to sustain communities that are pleasant and vibrant places to live in. This guidance sets out a [...]
Defra’s Final Report on Pitt Review Progress
Defra has published its final report on progress made since Sir Michael Pitt’s seminal review into the devastating floods of 2007. According to the report , 43 of the review’s 92 recommendations have already been implemented and a further 40 are in the process of being implemented. Many of the review’s conclusions became embodied in [...]
Partnership funding arrangements boost 60 new flood defence schemes
The Government today gave the go-ahead for 60 flood and coastal risk schemes providing protection to more than 25,000 homes Defra and the Environment Agency say the new partnership funding approach, which encourages funding from external sources such as councils and businesses has helped secure over £72 million of contributions to fund flood and coastal erosion [...]
More warnings of flood risk funding shortfalls from MPs and insurers
MPs have warned of a serious ‘mismatch’ between the need to manage flood risks effectively in England and the available budget. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee’s report on Flood Risk Management in England warns that there is great deal of uncertainty about whether there will be enough money to maintain and improve flood [...]
Flooding ‘could be the worst outcome of Climate Change’
The risks of flooding are projected to increase significantly in the UK – making it possibly the worst climate change threat facing the UK, according to a new Government environmental study. DEFRA today published its The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), a groundbreaking study looking at the top 100 challenges to the UK and our [...]
Hydro International Hosts SuDS Round Table Debate
Hydro International hosted SuDS: The State of the Nation, a Round Table debate to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing SuDS delivery.
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