Staff
at the Environment Agency have been repairing
flood banks across York to make sure they
are ready for the next downpour.
The Operations Delivery
team has been working on five kilometres
of flood bank at Clifton Ings and two kilometres
of flood bank at Middlethorpe Ings close
to York Crematorium.
They have been restoring
the original height and profile of the flood
banks after bad weather and flooding caused
erosion along some stretches.
The Ings in York play
a vital role in storing water from the River
Ouse, and the banks are in place to make
sure they don’t fill too quickly.
This summer sees a programme
of maintenance work by the Operations Delivery
team including grass cutting and tree clearance.
The work is carried
out along rivers across North Yorkshire
where the undergrowth is believed to be
a flood risk.
Technical specialist
Mark Fuller said: “All flood banks settle
over time and we regularly survey the defences
to see whether they fall below the expected
standard. If they do, we then programme
in the necessary repair work.
“The banks play a vital
role in managing flooding because they temporarily
hold back the water so that the storage
areas are available when they are most needed.”
Environment Agency staff
will be walking Yorkshire’s flood banks
and defences this summer to check for any
signs of deterioration.
The frequency of the
inspections depend on how critical the bank
is to protecting people and property. The
most critical are inspected around twice
a year.
Staff look for any damage
such as erosion or rabbit and mole holes
which can undermine the structure and cause
it to fail.
Environment Agency officers
in York have also been using state-of-the-art
surveying technology called Lidar to identify
potential weaknesses in its flood banks.
The data is gathered
by using a plane to emit lasers which bounce
off the ground and enable a national surveying
team to calculate the lie of the land, and
draw up maps.
They then send the maps
to the officers in York who identify the
flood banks and compare this LIDAR data
with the heights that the embankments should
be.
The Operations Delivery
team, based in York, is responsible for
1475 kilometres of river in North Yorkshire
and East Yorkshire, and it maintains 720
kilometres of flood banks and defences.
Officers have recently
finished repairing 3.1 kilometres of flood
bank at Bolton Ings at Bolton Percy near
Tadcaster. Parts of the bank were washed
away by flood water and officers have rebuilt
it to the original height and shape.
The Operations Delivery
team is the Environment Agency’s maintenance
and construction workforce. The work is
extremely varied and ranges from clearing
debris from river banks to building and
looking after the region’s flood defences.
The team is out every
day, maintaining and improving Environment
Agency structures and ensuring that they
are fit for purpose. And when the worst
happens, they are also in the front line
of our incident response teams.
+ More
Midlands Business Shortlisted
for Environment Agency Water Efficiency
Awards 2009
Royal Wolverhampton
NHS Trust praised for leading the way in
sustainability despite recession.
The Environment Agency
have announced that the Royal Wolverhampton
NHS Trust has been included in the shortlist
for this year’s Water Efficiency Awards,
the leading scheme in England and Wales
for recognising the achievements of organisations
who have reduced their environmental impact
by becoming more water efficient.
The Royal Wolverhampton
NHS Trust serves as an example to other
businesses and has demonstrated how to reduce
cost and environmental impact. The project
proves that green business is good business
and that by implementing sustainability
measures cost savings can be made. Envirowise,
the Government-funded programme to help
businesses with the sustainable use of resources,
estimates that UK companies could save 9
million GBP a day through simple water efficiency
measures.
The Royal Wolverhampton
NHS Trust Project ‘Water Conservation, An
Easy Win’, has been nominated for the Water
Save Award which recognises practical measures
that save water and money.
In response to government
targets, Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust introduced
a project to minimise water consumption.
A number of initiatives were devised and
implemented by the Engineering Department
in order to facilitate the proposed reductions.
Regular steam plant inspections were undertaken
and faulty steam traps repaired, with increased
insulation added to the plant rooms to reduce
the amount of condensate loss from faulty
steam traps. Additionally, steam trap alarm
systems were introduced to the Heart and
Lung Centre to alert the Estate Technician
of any faulty trapping sets. Steps were
also taken to identify and repair water
leaks and faulty equipment across the site,
to fit water displacement devices in cisterns,
and to identify areas of large water usage.
These initiatives resulted in a water consumption
reduction of 41,435m3 and a financial saving
of 75,822 GBP.
Ian Barker, Head of
Water at the Environment Agency said: “It
is vital that businesses remain committed
to reducing their environmental impact by
becoming more water efficient through this
difficult economic period. The organisations
shortlisted are shining examples for other
businesses to follow. This year’s awards
has seen entries of an extremely high calibre
and the judges face a tough task to identify
winners in each of the categories.”
The overall shortlist
is split into three separate categories
– Water Save, Water Solve and Water Shout,
recognising practical measures that save
water and money, smart solutions for water
use and campaigns that change the way people
use water. Nominations for a fourth category,
The Chief Executive’s Award, which commends
outstanding overall achievements in water
efficiency, will be announced at a later
date.
All winners will be
announced at a ceremony on HMS President,
London on Wednesday 15th July.
