Atkins wins Water UK contract to draw up framework for drainage resilience

Atkins, has won a contract with Water UK to develop a framework that will enable water companies, in England and Wales, to improve their drainage resilience when they draw up their drainage and wastewater management plans.

The framework is “much needed,” according to Atkins, because the Government, the Welsh government and Ofwat have all pressed the water industry to improve its long-term drainage and wastewater planning.

“Population growth, new development, urban creep and climate change are all putting increasing pressure on our drainage systems,” said Atkins, project director, Brian Arkell.

“A strategic and joined-up long-term strategy will be an essential part of how the industry strengthens its drainage resilience for generations to come,” Arkell added.

The importance of the framework is made greater, Atkins said, because, companies are currently free to produce their own plans within broad guidelines. There is no statutory requirement for water companies to produce long-term drainage and wastewater plans.

The framework will build on Ofwat and the Environment Agency’s Drainage Strategy Framework, published in May 2013, and more recent work by the 21st Century Drainage Programme.

Work on the project has started and it is scheduled to be published in late summer 2018.

WS Atkins is part of the SNC-Lavalin group since its acquisition in July last year.