4.3 Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS)

As well as working directly on flood management, adaptation needs to include changes to developments. The UK has a legacy of building on floodplains, along rivers and the coast, which has placed developments at an increased risk of flooding. With the UK Government unwilling to rule out new development on floodplains, flood risk management seems likely to increase in importance.

Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) seek to avoid some of the problems of flooding, pollution and damage to the environment associated with much existing urban drainage due to factors such as altered drainage patterns, excessive hard surfacing, polluted run-off entering groundwater and flow which exceeds capacity.