Taking a fresh look at our watercourses

According to The Rivers Trust, only 14% of English rivers have Good Ecological Status within the Water Framework Directive (WFD) because of pollution. Nitrogen compounds are key components of this.

“A ‘chemical cocktail’ of sewage, agricultural waste, and plastic is

In the spotlight

We are delighted to introduce two recent senior additions to our WHS team.

Vera Langer

Vera has joined our expanding consultancy team as a Technical Director.

She will support the management and marketing of our water services at an exciting …

Think or swim!

Most excavations below ground level accumulate water. The rate of water flowing in, as well as the disposal of that water, must be carefully managed, and planning ahead is essential.

The delicate balance of our water supplies can be disrupted …

A hard rain

In the summer of 2021 a massive flood event across a huge area of Europe resulted in around 250 deaths and as much as 10 billion euros of damage. Lessons must be learned.

A sense of the scale

The flood

The greater good

The Water Framework Directive 2000 (WFD) commits EU member states to achieve ‘good’ qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies by 2015. Post-Brexit, the WFD has been fully transposed into UK law.

Post-Brexit interpretation of the WFD in the

Rising seas

It is almost certain that sea levels will rise by at least one metre because of climate change. Our coastlines will change too. We must prepare for this.

Sea-level rise is one of the major challenges identified in Global warming

Mind the gap!

There has been much talk of ‘levelling up’ between the poorer and wealthier regions of the UK. Spending on flood defences is a case in point. Does the Treasury’s revised Green Book 2020 give this the green light?

We all …

A new partnership to manage flood risk

We’re pleased to announce that WHS, Burroughs and TACP have formed a new Flood Risk Management (FRM) partnership.

We have worked with Burroughs and TACP on several major transport infrastructure projects that have included flood risk management measures. We have …

Can Brexit reduce flooding?

After Brexit we will move away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and landowners will be paid to produce ‘public goods’. Can this be used to help deliver flood risk management?

Why doesn’t the CAP fit?

Paying farmers based

The future for TAN 15

We provide our views on the proposed changes to planning policy for flood risk in Wales, due to be finalised in September 2020.

TAN 15 revisited

As we reported last time, TAN 15 was first released in 2004. Much has …