Flooding and the mounting concerns about CSO overflows have galvanised the UK government to try to “do something”. As so often, the immediate concerns tend to dominate longer-term thinking, but at least the issues get aired. The Environment Act and the coming periodic review of water prices in 2024 (PR24), plus the public pressure on sewerage, are providing the focus for change.
None of these has been learned. Insurance policies across the economy subsidise flood insurance in vulnerable areas and create perverse incentives. Agricultural subsidies continue to support the planting of maize and similar crops in sensitive areas, whilst the environmental schemes within the ELMS (Environmental Land Management Schemes) are not robustly capturing flood risk considerations, in part because they are siloed and separate from catchment management.
We can do much better. River catchments need to be managed on a system-wide basis. They need a system operator – analogous to the system operator function for the electricity networks. Catchment natural capital plans, catchment natural capital accounts, and the integration of flood management with the incentives of water companies and farmers could produce a much better answer, at lower total cost.
November 10, 2021
Water Video
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