Managing Floods and Droughts: Water in the South East

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• Managing Floods and Droughts Water in the South
  East
• 30th November 2004
• University of Westminster
• Louise Every

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Scope of the research
The Commission is concerned with the impact that
climate change and current and proposed housing
developments in the SE will have on water
resources, flood risk and flood
management. Emphasis on public water supply and
household demand management, flooding and
development Not on abstraction regimes and
licensing, industrial and agricultural sectors,
water treatment and quality (in detail).
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Drivers of change in the SE

• Climate change
• hotter, drier summers, wetter, milder winters,
  more extreme weather, rising sea level
• Housing growth
• amount, design and location
• Population growth
• - Increases resource demand
• Economic growth
• - Increases consumption, but needed to fund
  adaptation and innovation

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Current situation

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Water Consumption in the SE

• High but stabilising per capita consumption
• High and increasing overall water demand
• Leakage levels generally under control
• Except Thames and Three Valleys
• SE metering rates relatively low
• Several companies predict lt50 by 2025
• EA doubts 2003/04 and 2024/25 targets will be met

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Is there enough water?

• Future scenarios work
• Prepared by the Water Resources in the SE Group
  for SE Plan
• Overall conclusion
• Increased demand from new development in the
  South East can only be accommodated through a
  combination of demand and supply side activities
• But

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Is there enough water?

• Caveats and considerations
• Not considered impacts of London and other
  regions housing growth
• Supply and demand measures required
• Enabling mechanisms required to increase demand
  management
• Assumes 55 of SE households metered by 2020
• Planning permissions and abstraction licenses
  needed
• Uncertainty over climate change impacts
• Adequate funding needed
• Assumptions and uncertainties
• Sustainability reductions uncertainty remains
• Water transfers some un-costed and unverified
  but may be viable
• Report does not refer to sewage treatment
  possible constraint to development in certain
  localities

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Policy issues

• Getting back on the twin track approach
• Increasing supply
• Managing demand

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Policy issues increasing supply

• Scope for storing more winter water
• Reservoirs pros and cons
• Transfers west to east, feasibility and cost
• Timing is crucial
• Planning process and public involvement
  implications
• Consider Assured Water Supply approach

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Policy issues managing demand

• Expand water metering and use smarter tariffs
• Incentivising
• Fairer, more progressive
• EA - stronger role in assessing water scarcity
  status
• Building regulations
• Mandatory 20 water efficiency in regulations
• Higher in national code review voluntary status
  
• The role of planning
• Water efficiency a material consideration in
  planning
• A water efficiency commitment SE regional pilot
• A Water Savings Trust?

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Rising flood risk in the SE

• Probability and consequences predicted to
  increase
• SE at greater risk than other regions
• 500m p.a currently spent by Defra on defences,
  700m to 1b by 2020
• UK 5b losses in past 5 years to storms and
  floods
• Challenges
• Deciding on acceptable risk
• Avoiding panic and blight
• Finding suitable locations for development
• Deciding on defence vs. abandonment
• Funding
• Compensation

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Rising flood risk in the SE

• 2080s Expected annual probability of flooding

2080s Expected annual damage ( million)
residential and commercial
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Policy issues

• Assessing risk and public attitudes to future
  risks
• Greater public involvement
• Problems of assessing attitude to future risk
• Market trends
• The role of insurers and mortgage providers
• Influencing development
• Maintaining affordable cover
• Alternative risk-transfer mechanisms
• Planning
• Stronger guidance
• Conflicting targets
• Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
• Addressing the causes of climate change

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Institutions and Governance in the SE

Relatively complex water company profile Is
there scope for greater co-ordination, both
within the region and inter-regionally
particularly with London? What are the
implications of the WFD for water planning
water resources and flood management at the
regional level? How can the public, as
stakeholders, become more involved?
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Summary

• Caution against reliance on supply augmentation
• Need robust mechanisms to ensure efficiency
  savings of 20
• Higher rate of metering with help for high
  use-low income groups
• Building regulations - 20 water efficiency
• Local planning powers to mandate higher
  efficiencies
• Pilot SE water efficiency commitment and
  investigate a WST
• Stronger, clearer planning guidance on flood risk
  and development
• Partnership working to deliver suitable housing
  in suitable locations
• SuDS become the norm, with clearer management
  responsibility
• Governance investigate greater intra and
  inter-regional co-ordination and public
  involvement
• Environment to be at the heart of regional plans