Welcome, from Alex Stephenson
Director of Stormwater at Hydro International
and Chair of the British Water SUDS Group
Welcome to Hydro International Stormwater Management Zone
Here in the Stormwater Zone we define stormwater management and sustainable drainage and demonstrate how our products fit the philosophy and can complement natural SUDS such as swales, ponds etc.
Following water shortage and hosepipe bans in the South East in 2006 and the devastating 2007 floods, drought, floods and climate change have been the topic of much discussion, debate and news. Sir Michael Pitts review into the flooding of 2007 sparked nationwide interest and brought it to the top of the government's agenda. The Flood and Water Management Bill, now being finalised is a major step to ensuring that the UK has adequate supply of potable water to meet its growing population and addressing flood risk and the changes in climate which may increase flood risk.
A major part of the Water and Floods Bill addresses surface water or stormwater runoff and the adoptability of SUDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems). Two thirds of the 2007 floods were caused by surface water runoff and the inability of the surface water infrastructure to be able to deal with the volume. Sustainable Drainage will be enforced on all new developments.
Hydro International is one of the UK's leading suppliers of proprietary sustainable drainage systems and a long-time pioneer of the concept of SUDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems). In 1980 our Hydro-Brake® Flow Control was featured on Tomorrow's World - highlighting the cause of surface water flooding due to development and demonstrating how such a simple solution could prevent flooding. Although we seemed ahead of our time back then, the Hydro-Brake® Flow Control is now considered the industry standard and a market leader. Click here for a trip back in time!
15 years ago Hydro published 'Urban Drainage - The Natural Way' highlighting the importance of Source Control, Sustainable Drainage Systems (SUDS), and Integrated Stormwater Management. Those principles still apply and we hope that the measures taken to tackle surface water drainage will go back to those first principles.
Since the company's formation in 1980, we have advocated sustainable stormwater management and, through intensive research and product development Hydro have produced a 'Toolkit' for SUDS.
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