World Water Week 2022: Engineering the solutions to keep water moving

World Water Week is the leading conference on global water issues and is one of the most influential awareness campaigns on the topic, having been held every year since 1991. It aims to highlight the key issues relating to water, focused on understanding and tackling global water challenges as they evolve.

The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Seeing the Unseen: The Value of Water’, seeking to uncover water’s full value to society. Across the week, the campaign will highlight the value of water for people and development, its financial and economic value, and the value of water for nature and the climate.

At Pick Everard, we strive to deliver better together with our team, for our clients, communities and the planet – and our water engineers play a huge role in this when it comes to creating solutions that meet our needs today, and in the future.

Water engineering encompasses a lot of hidden infrastructure that, while not immediately visible, is absolutely crucial to the way the built environment works, interacts with nature and the way in which we live our lives.

Peter Chappell, Strategic Account Director, leads our water engineering team. He said: “Simply put, our communities and way of life rely on the solutions that we design. Whether it’s flood risk assessments, working on sustainable drainage solutions, or designing water treatment and distribution facilities, our expert team have an important part to play in keeping taps flowing in homes and buildings around the country.

“Water management plays a huge role in the planning approval process for any scheme as well. Our teams collaborate across disciplines to ensure that designs are fit-for-purpose, while meeting the needs of local flood authorities and the Environment Agency when submitting planning applications.”

One example of this is our flood alleviation work for a residential area on the south edge of Bulkington village, which had a history of flooding. Several properties in the area were on the at-risk register for flooding, and future planned development looked set to increase both the likelihood and frequency of flooding in the area.

In this instance, our role was to identify the extent of flooding, investigate different solutions and provide the design for the recommended approach. The resulting sustainable urban drainage solution incorporated rectangular rain gardens and a detention basin, which ultimately conformed to the client’s budget and aspiration to minimise the disruption and carbon footprint of the works.

As in all that we do, collaboration is key and our water engineers work hand-in-hand with other disciplines, including close work with our civil engineers. Director for civil engineering Paul Cannaby also has a wealth of experience in water engineering, having worked on large-scale sewer flooding alleviation works, hydraulic modelling and urban drainage infrastructure throughout his career.

He said: “So much of the work that water engineering produces is hidden from the public eye, but without it we simply wouldn’t be able to live the way we do. Outside of the industry, it’s often only noticed when it goes wrong – or looks to have gone wrong.

“There is a lot of nuance in drainage for example, with systems being designed in specific ways to do more than ‘just drain away water’. They seek to redirect water away from certain areas, but it’s important that this water is drained effectively and not simply pushed elsewhere.

“Drainage systems are also there to enhance and protect nature too and a key aspect is providing suitable levels of pre-treatment, to remove any potential contaminants, before any surface water leaves the site. Controlling the rate of discharge of surface water drainage is particularly important to ensure that receptors such as natural waterways are not overloaded, which can potentially cause more severe flooding elsewhere.

“Campaigns like World Water Week will continue to be important as climate change sees us face more challenges relating to water supply than ever before. It provides a platform for experts like us to highlight the challenges and solutions relating to water – and showcase the innovations that engineers produce to make sure that the general public can continue to live a life with safe, clean and properly managed water supplies and systems.”

If you would like to discuss our water engineering services or a potential project, please get in contact with Peter Chappell here.