Along with air and soil, water is one of the critical elements needed for life. Floods make us feel that water is limitless, droughts demonstrate that this may not be the case. It is predicted that urban populations will increase significantly over the next 8 years and this will create a number of specific challenges given our ageing infrastructure, the need to manage demand by recovering resources from waste water and integrating water management with nature-based solutions to protect the natural environment, water quality and responding to the biodiversity crisis.
Based on various sources, the RHS estimate is that there may be up to 700 000 ha of domestic gardens in total across the UK, and that domestic gardens make up 25-30% of urban areas, which is growing with increasing urbanisation. Linked with changes in climate, particularly with regard to longer periods of hotter drier weather, and more intense rainfall during periods of wet weather, gardens have an important role to play in regulating services around water. How water is managed in gardens has an immediate impact within that space, but also beyond the garden boundary, thereby impacting wider hydrological processes. Consequently, water dynamics within domestic gardens are an important consideration within integrated water management. Principles of effective water management in gardens are shared at www.mains2rains.uk.
Overall, in our towns, cities and homes, we need a more integrated approach to water management so that we properly value treated potable water and use less of it which also requires a circular approach to reuse including but, beyond ‘rainwater harvesting’, and we need to better manage surface water in our urban environments for slowing peak flows, and reducing flooding, and cleaning pollutants. As much as we need biodiversity net gain, we need to also be water net positive.
Chair: Dr. David Smoker, Technical Director, ACO Water Management
Integrated water management in a changing climate
Dr Robert Grabowski, Senior lecturer in Catchment Science, Centre for Water Environment and Development, Cranfield University
Recommendations for effective water dynamics in domestic gardens, with benefits for integrated water management
Mark Gush, Head of Environmental Horticulture, Science & Collections Division, Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
