Exceptionally hot and dry conditions have continued to plague parts of western Europe, including the UK this summer. Although not as intense as the heatwave in July, temperatures above 30C were reached widely across England and Wales for several days in August. A provisional high of 34.9C was recorded in Charlwood, Surrey, on Saturday August 13th. The high temperatures follow the driest July in England since 1935, with parts of central southern England and the south-east experiencing the driest July since records began.
This has left some of the SuDS schemes in London and the South East in desperate need of water, and maybe it is time to consider the irrigation of SuDS in the summer using captured/stored rainwater? The SuDS in this image are in Eastcote in London, and if we were designing these devices again today, we could include storage tanks below the bioretention zones with wicking up into the soil layers. Or maybe we could include small solar pumps that pumped the stored rainwater back up onto the soil? If we are serious about creating habitats for wildlife that sustain creatures in the summer, we must start to think about watering our SuDS. If you are involved in SuDS design, maybe think about what you can do on your next scheme.
