Sirs
As a new resident of Wiltshire I was interested to read the article on Toxic Kennet – the real and personal cost. However, there is another side to the story that is not getting quite such an airing.
The current debate about stormwater discharges to the environment is not the whole story. It is a “canary in the coalmine” for a different problem. Stormwater discharges exist to stop peoples’ homes and businesses being flooded.
However, low level incidents involving a few houses being flooded (which almost always includes sewage) are on the increase. Lord Dannatt’s Norfolk Flood Review has been set up specifically as a result, but the situation is the same right across the country. People don’t like sewage in their living rooms, especially when it keeps on happening.
The causes are:
- Many decades of under investment in our sewerage and drainage systems meaning that drainage and sewage is mixed in the same pipe and the volume of liquid that these have to cope with is increasing
- New development (in all areas) that puts additional pressure on systems, without investment across whole catchments to enable systems to cope
- Changing weather patterns linked to climate change
Ultimately this is about:
- Water company investment, in collaboration with all the other flood risk management authorities. But this is determined in large part by Ofwat’s Price Review system, which is focussed on keeping prices to customers low and on water supply. This in turn is determined by legislation and Government guidance to Ofwat.
- The planning system working properly to put the right developments in the right places. It isn’t at the moment.
It is also of course about good management of watercourses and land management, but we need Ofwat to focus hard on requiring and supporting water companies to invest in their sewerage and drainage networks. Several water companies have been asking Ofwat to enable them to do this, others are less forward thinking.
Yours,
Paul Cobbing
Chief Executive
National Flood Forum
www.nationalfloodforum.org.uk
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