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1.  Scottish SuDS working party publishes new guidance

The Sustainable Urban Drainage Scottish Working Party (SUDSWP) has published the Water Assessment and Drainage Assessment Guide. The new guidance is intended to help guide those involved in the installation of water and drainage infrastructure (both new and retrofitting) through the necessary stages to obtain relevant permissions and comply with standards and pol

2.  Barriers to nationwide SuDS delivery

Anthony McCloy, McCloy Consulting: Blog: ‘Things have certainly progressed over the last ten years that I have been delivering SuDS training. The increased level of technically challenging questions from delegates is keeping me more on my toes for one thing. The SuDS triangle has also become the SuDS square as part of the recent SuDS manual update.

However, some things remain the same. Many still do not agree whether the acronym should contain a large U or a small u. More importantly, SuDS has still not become the norm in terms of providing drainage for new or redevelopment schemes. It has always been stated that this is likely to be a generational shift, the question is now which generation this is likely to occur in. To read more go to: http://www.susdrain.org/community/blog/barriers-to-nationwide-suds-delivery/

3.  Welsh Government publishes recommended non-statutory standards for SuDS

The Welsh Government has published new standards and guidance for sustainable drainage serving new developments in Wales. The standards have been developed with support from HR Wallingford and take account of the latest SuDS Manual from CIRIA and feedback from a public consultation in 2015.

There are six standards, dealing with runoff destination, hydraulic control, water quality, amenity, recreation and design. Guidance on each of these is also included in the document, along with links to further relevant sources of information to aid design, construction and maintenance. The document also includes a section on SuDS Principles, providing a list of the principles which underpin the design of surface water management schemes to meet the Standards.

The Standards are currently non-statutory. Their publication will allow local authority staff and developers to test their operation on a voluntary basis. However, if the Welsh Government decides to implement the SuDS provisions of the 2010 Flood and Water Management Act in Wales, they could form the basis of statutory standards The standards can be downloaded here.