Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://read.utilityweek.co.uk/i/283328
MARCH 2014 WET NEWS 31 Search for suppliers at wwtonline.co.uk Flood Control International Flood barriers, gates, doors www.floodcontrolinternational. com Flood Control International is a UK-based specialist supplier and installer of a comprehen- sive range of flood defence systems. It designs, manufactures, supplies and installs bespoke engineered flood defences, including flood barriers, flood gates and flood doors. It also produces equipment for chemical spill containment. Floodgate The Floodgate www.floodgate.ltd.uk Floodgate comprises a 25mm thick, steel boxed frame that expands telescopically on the horizontal and vertical plane to fit simply and securely into a Specifiers file: 30 WET NEWS MARCH 2014 The challenge: Flood risk management INSIGHT The number of properties and areas at risk from groundwater flooding is less than has been thought until now. That's according to ESI's Groundwater Flood Risk Map, which uses a classification method placing the risk into four categories. A solution: Mapping the groundwater risk A new body of work has been officially launched by ESI to overcome the constraints of previous work. The consultancy's Groundwater Flood Risk Map has identified that the number of homes, busi- nesses, and areas at actual risk from groundwater flooding is considerably less than previ- ously thought. ESI developed a national groundwater flood risk model that uses a set of rules relating the risk of flooding at a location to groundwater levels and hydrogeological properties of underlying bedrock and super- ficial deposits. Occurrence of historical groundwater flooding events is used to calibrate risk classifica- tions, and rules were developed in an iterative process to achieve the best match with available records. The new resource uses a classification method with the risk of groundwater flooding placed into four categories: • negligible risk, which deems no further inves- tigation is necessary unless proposed site use is unusually sensitive • low risk, where there will be a remote possi- bility that incidence of groundwater flooding could lead to damage to property or harm to other sensitive recep- tors with an indicative return period of one in 200 years • moderate risk, where there will be a significant possibility that incidence of groundwater flooding could lead to damage to property or harm to other sensitive receptors • high risk, where there is a high risk of groundwater flooding within the estimated return period of one in 200 years or more frequently, and it is likely that incidence of groundwater flooding will occur which could lead to damage to property or harm to other sensitive receptors The Groundwater Flood Risk Map is already proving popular with a variety of compa- nies in the water and utili- ties sectors and the new map should see a change in the way that groundwater flooding is considered. A move to a risk-based model can only be good news for the hundreds of homes and landowners finally freed from the potential issues which come with being branded a risk in the past, and more in-depth and appropriate information can only help with planning projects and infrastructure in the future. Because ESI is working in consultation with dozens of Leading Local Flood Authorities we will continue to develop and evolve the map in the future, with updates available on a six-monthly schedule. Combination ESI's consultancy team com- prises some of the most experi- enced and talented in the indus- try, with an average of over ten years' experience. A team of 45 technical spe- cialists represent one of the most important centres of groundwater and land quality knowledge in the UK and among them are nine PhDs, 32 MScs and seven Chartered Geologists. This combination of techni- cal expertise and professional experience gives the company the ability to tackle the most demanding groundwater, geo- environmental and sustainable development issues in the industry. n "A move to a risk-based model can only be good news for the hundreds of homes and landowners finally freed from the potential issues which come with being branded a risk in the past" Mark Fermor • The groundwater flood risk model uses a set of rules relating the risk of flooding at a location to groundwater levels and hydrogeo- logical properties of underlying bedrock and superficial deposits The kit: Software tools Hydro International www.hydro-int.com/uk Engineering the best possible flood prevention control of surface water drainage systems is now quicker and easier for the majority of UK designers with the launch of important new software tools for the Hydro-Brake Optimum vortex flow control. With the inclusion of Hydro-Brake Optimum within the industry- standard Micro Drainage design tool, from February 2014, engineers now have the flexibility to tailor the size and hydraulic VSD control cabinets SoftStart UK www.softstartuk.com The recent bout of extreme weather resulted in SoftStart UK receiving calls from water pumping stations needing to step up their capacity and pump companies trying to cope with major flood incidents. The company has built a fleet of variable speed drive (VSD) control cabinets that it is making available for hire, to address a growing need across many sectors of industry. SoftStart has built cabinets to cover from 22kW to 220kW, which it says will cover 90 percent of the applications they have identified. They expect Flood defence solutions Flood Barriers www.ukfloodbarriers.co.uk Flood Barriers has showcased Britain's capability to design world class flood defence solutions at a Westminster reception, Britain Prepared – A Flood Resilient Society, earlier this month. The company teamed up with Infrastructure Intelligence to co-host the reception at the House of Commons on March 11, sponsored by Sir Peter Luff MP. Investment in this technology is key, and the company said that