World Water Week 2022: Invest in protection for a safer tomorrow

There is a fine art of balance to water management when it comes to designing this into our built environment and surrounding landscape – from both a practical and economic point of view. This creates a number of challenges in public perception – and has a knock-on effect with clients too.

Water engineering can be described as a hidden art, with most of what we work on being designed into the ground, infrastructure – or designed not to be noticed at all even when visible. It is a classic example of something that usually goes completely under the radar until something goes wrong. However, that in itself is a perception challenge – because more often than not, something that looks like it has gone wrong to the untrained eye is simply sophisticated design and part of a much bigger overall picture.

As we see increasing instances of extreme weather, we will see this happen more and more unless we work to showcase the refined design behind our water infrastructure. For example, flooding can be incorporated into wider site infrastructure in a way that places water below the level of the buildings, therefore protecting them from damage and eventually feeding back into the wider drainage system.

Equally, it may be a conscious decision to allow water to collect and drain slowly from certain areas in order to protect others – if this consideration is not taken, it simply pushes any flood risk to a different area rather than alleviating it altogether.

We are currently experiencing a drought and many areas are enforcing a hosepipe ban in the coming weeks, leading many of the general public asking why reservoirs aren’t being extended or leaks being fixed. This is an excellent example of the large-scale economic balance to be had. This level of infrastructure repair is time, labour and cost intensive, and is only commercially viable to a certain level of protection, so other tactics are often considered more effective fixes when examining the overall picture.

All this being said, we are now seeing ‘once in a generation’ weather events on a more frequent basis – and indeed some areas of the country are now seeing these extreme events like flooding on an almost annual basis, particularly as the climate crisis has developed over recent years. So, we must consider the frequency with which the outcome of certain events are seen in any given area, examine how these may change over time and look to incorporate this into our designs to increase the level of futureproofing.

Especially in a time of constrained budgets, we must be advising clients to look beyond the bottom-line cost of a scheme to see the true value these effective tools, systems and strategies add to their projects. Truly valuable water engineering comes from systems that help to protect and enhance green space and surrounding buildings and developments, minimise long-term disruption to local residents in effectively alleviating any issues, and promote more energy efficient processes.

Change will ultimately be led by legislation, particularly relating to the planning process. Saying this, it is not a huge piece of new legislation that is needed, rather the adaption of what we already have to suit evolving challenges and requirements. It is about working with the relevant flood and environment authorities to ensure that higher levels of protection and quality are embedded into every scheme from the very outset – something that we pride ourselves on in our approach.

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