{"id":52279,"date":"2021-01-28T10:14:40","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T10:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenblue.com\/?p=52279"},"modified":"2022-05-24T17:23:04","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T16:23:04","slug":"looking-after-suds-is-legislation-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenblue.com\/gb\/looking-after-suds-is-legislation-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking after SuDS, Is Legislation Enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On paper, the idea of sustainable drainage (SuDS)<\/strong> has so much going for it for developers. It helps meet the challenges of increasing levels of stormwater runoff in an attractive, environmentally friendly way. It also allows developers to optimise land use and create environments that people want to live and work in.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s holding some developers back from including SuDS in their schemes? For a long time, the primary barrier has maintenance. Who is going to look after sustainable drainage features in development: the water company; local authority; home-owners; the developers themselves?<\/p>\n

\"\"
ArborFlow Install – Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There have been many discussions about this topic over the years, which all seem to feature a variation on: \u2018it all depends on the type of structure we\u2019re talking about\u2019.
\nThe issue of maintenance for traditional drainage is pretty clear cut. The responsibility lies mainly with water companies, highways and\/or local authorities. Since the introduction of the Flood Water Management Act (FWMA)<\/a> in 2010 encouraging SuDS, their adoption and maintenance have been a bit of a sticking point. They have different maintenance requirements from traditional drainage. Water companies like and understand pipes and tanks. Rain gardens, swales and tree pits, etc. present very different challenges.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two major advances over the last couple of years have gone some way to address the issues. In January 2019, SuDS became a legal requirement in Wales<\/strong> for developments of a certain size. In April 2020, the Design and Construction Guidance (DCG) came into effect in England, setting the criteria for water companies and sewerage undertakers to adopt SuDS. Its guidance \u201c\u2026 provides the mechanism by which sewerage companies can secure the adoption of a wide range of SuDS components that are compliant with the legal definition of a sewer.\u201d Once again, the \u2018it all depends\u2019 caveat.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Greener Grangetown, Cardiff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The DCG does set out four criteria for a SuDS<\/strong> component to be adopted by a water company or sewerage undertaker:
\n\u2022 It has to be constructed to drain buildings and yards belonging or pertinent to buildings and it must serve more than one property
\n\u2022 It must have a channel, so is basically a depression between banks or ridges or a defined boundary of some description
\n\u2022 It must convey and return flow to a sewer or the environment \u2013 either a surface water body or groundwater
\n\u2022 And it must have an effective and lawful outfall or point of discharge. It is very important that there is lawful authority to discharge back into the environment.<\/p>\n

So, is a rain garden or tree pit adoptable? In some cases, the answer is yes (but it all depends, etc\u2026). Tree pits<\/strong> that form part of a bioretention system are adaptable, specially engineered systems with engineered soil (gravel and sand layers) that increase infiltration. Tree pit systems like ArborFlow<\/strong><\/a> can help developer\u2019s schemes meet the criteria for adoption. But should we really be looking at legislation to enforce \u2018adoptability\u2019?<\/p>\n

What about taking responsibility at an individual level \u2013 for our own homes\u2019 contribution to the problem of surface water? At GreenBlue Urban<\/strong>, we\u2019re championing the idea of MicroSuDS<\/strong> \u2013 planters, rain gardens,<\/strong><\/a> individual tree pits \u2013 that can make a massive contribution to \u2018slowing the flow\u2019<\/strong> of surface water by intercepting it close to the source. A few years ago, there was a media outcry in the UK about the paving over of front gardens for parking. Far less noise was made about the plethora of patios creating impervious surfaces in back gardens. But the effect is the same.<\/p>\n

Why aren\u2019t people taking responsibility to offset the permeable surface area their homes reduce?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And don\u2019t get us started on artificial lawns!<\/p>\n

It is a serious question to raise. We can of course reasonably expect water companies, highways agencies and local authorities, etc. to help protect our communities from flooding, but we are all part of those communities and should step up to the mark ourselves, at an individual, household and neighbourhood level to manage surface water earlier before it becomes \u2018someone else\u2019s problem\u2019. This does call for a change of mindset, a shift on how we think about water. That new patio could be permeable and sit above a water storage tank, providing water for the garden. Same for parking areas within new housing and business developments.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kenmont Gardens, Kensal Green, London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course, developers have a moral and legal responsibility to protect their developments from flooding. Often the main driver is financial, the need to avoid costly insurance claims from flooding. What we are advocating is a change in attitude to managing surface water from the individual up to the corporate level. Corporations need to start living up to their CSR promises<\/strong> and actively pursuing ways to alleviate flood risk and make a tangible difference to the environment.<\/p>\n

The knock-on effects of developing better, healthier, more attractive places to live and work.<\/strong> Resulting in greater benefits to people, wildlife and local ecology and will be a lasting legacy for those brave and committed enough to change their mindsets and embrace a new way of thinking. We say: don\u2019t wait for legislation to tell you what you have to do, lead the charge and do what you must do to improve the world.<\/p>\n

At GreenBlue Urban<\/strong>, we commit every single day to help landscape architects, civil engineers and developers in the successful design and implementation<\/a> of green and blue infrastructure. Our products facilitate beneficial ecosystems by enabling trees planted in hardscape areas to reach their full potential. Our engineered tree pit systems and bioretention rain garden systems are used worldwide as SuDS\/LID systems for water filtration and attenuation.<\/p>\n

You can read about how we make this happen in our numerous case studies.<\/strong> Why we make it happen is our strength and our purpose. Join us in our mission.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On paper, the idea of sustainable drainage (SuDS) has so much going for it for developers. It helps meet the challenges of increasing levels of stormwater runoff in an attractive, environmentally friendly way. It also allows developers to optimise land use and create environments that people want to live and work in. So, what\u2019s holding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":52688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[341],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLooking after SuDS, Is Legislation Enough? - GreenBlue Urban<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discusses adoption and maintenance of engineered SuDs solutions particularly rain gardens and tree pits on new developments.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greenblue.com\/gb\/looking-after-suds-is-legislation-enough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking after SuDS, Is Legislation Enough? 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