The Isle of Wight Council and Southern Water have agreed a new partnership to transform roads across the Island in an effort to cut storm overflows and flood risks. A memorandum of understanding will see both organisations create nature-based sustainable drainage solutions (SuDS) like swales, raingardens and tree pits along roadsides to reduce surface water run-off. This will help protect homes and businesses from flooding, and also help reduce storm overflows, by slowing the flow of surface water which typically runs straight off roads and into the combined sewer network. This action will stop the sewers from being overloaded, by keeping this water in the ground instead. It comes as the Isle of Wight Council signed a motion this year to end all sewage discharges into seas and watercourses by 2030. Under the partnership, Southern Water will invest in the delivery of roadside SuDs, with Isle of Wight Council co-designing, supporting and helping to deliver the schemes. As part of this effort, Southern Water has agreed to fund two new drainage specialists who will work for the council. 
“Everyone on the Island is well aware of the severe impact flooding has on our community, that storm events are becoming more regular and more extreme, and it is important that the council does everything it can to try and minimise these impacts. “Part of that work is to manage surface water in the best possible way to help reduce the likelihood of flooding in our communities. The delivery of roadside SuDS across the Island will improve the resilience of our drainage and sewer infrastructure, while reaping these broader benefits.”
Keith Herbert, works for Southern Water’s Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force, which is driving work on cutting storm overflows across the region. He said:
“This new partnership is a real gamechanger. We are very excited about getting to work and re-greening roads across the Isle of Wight, creating a natural solution to the issue of water running off roads and ending up in our sewer network. “We hope this partnership will lead to other councils across the South East to take a similar approach, as we all work together to improve our local environment.”
This week, a memorandum of understanding between the council and Southern Water was signed by Natasha Dix, service director for waste, environment and planning at the Isle of Wight Council, and Nick Mills, director of environment and innovation at Southern Water. This project will run alongside several other activities being led by Southern Water on the Isle of Wight to combat storm overflows and flood risks, which has prevented around 300 spills each year. These include:
- more than 3,500 slow-drain water butts installed
- 175 large roofs and seven hectares managed – slowing the flow of rainfall entering the combined sewer system
- 120 surface water connections identified
- dozens of optimisation schemes on pumping stations and treatment works
- more than £10 million spent on improvements
We live on the coast, when you look southwest there is 8000 miles of Atlantic ocean , when the low pressure weather systems roll in one after another it’s gonna rain, run for the hills, you can’t control the weather so stop pretending you can.
I looked up the definition of a tree pit,
A tree pit is most often a depression around a tree or shrub that allows diverted water to be absorbed by the plant, and filters out harmful chemicals.
For this you have to plant particular trees that take years to grow. If you dig a pit around existing trees they will die.
Of course, Island Roads are doing their bit too by allowing massive potholes to form in roads. These potholes retain vast amounts of water and delay run-off that causes flooding. So next time you drive through a massive pothole, smile and think of the good deeds done by the bright sparks at Island Roads. Be sure not to beep them when you drive past Island Roads vans because they might be inside sleeping, dreaming up more genius ideas like replacing all of the roads with gravel to improve drainage and save money. Now there is a a great idea …
And then island roads will come along and cut the trees down.
What a bunch of useless money grabbers, even creating 2 more posts. There is a simple solution to this it’s called verge maintenance and clear the drains as they did back in the day. Can’t remember the last time I saw a road cleaner vehicle pumping the drains in Ryde in late September ready for the rainfall afterwards
Re the gulley cleaners. I understand there are only two gulley cleaning vehicles left on the island and they simply go round clearing what has been reported.
So, everyone needs to report blocked drains as there doesn’t seem to be a routing maintenance plan. They even drive over and go past blocked drains if the drain is not on their worksheet.
You can report it to Island Roads online
Had the drain pumped out out side my home last week. They left all the rubbish on the road less than a ft from the drain for the rain to wash back in. Clever as fcuk
Try fix Morton flooding. That’ll be hugely helpful.
Surely a fresh water overflow pipe from the Eastern yar to Sandown Bay would alleviate some of the flooding. If the rspb and environment agency would allow it of course!
Maybe just build a bloody great umbrella over the whole island and open it when the rain pisses down too hard. Yeah that is the answer you loons.
Stop building houses on fields, which soak up the rainwater then. If you concrete it over and put houses on it, then it stands to reason,that the entire area will flood, no matter what you do.
no more houses, or is that too difficult to work out.
the island needs less people, not more houses, as its infrastructure can’t cope already
The island needs more people of all nationalities and cultures
how the island have got away with it for so long is a joke.
IW Council should do their bit and bring persons to the island,
they can fill the vacant available NHS Vacancies.
Where is Robertson and Quigley on this matter.
no it doesn’t – what is it with your obession on destroying existing communities.
i don’t see you demanding that more white people are encouraged to move to africa – why is that.
The Island needs to diversify, that is why so many
Uneducated acists voted Deform.
There was a time when landowners maintained their field edge ditches. Now the run off brings, not only water, but soil, onto the roads. The ludicrous decision over the East Yar sluices puts Morton Road underwater regularly, as well as increasing the flood risk to the houses in Brading. Looking back at what our predecessors did would help at times. It is not all about global warming and increased rainfall.
I saw on Facebook a photo of the Eastern yar from the 50s at new church it was much wider deeper as you could use boats on it and then I photo from the last few years and it was much narrower and a lot shallower because its not been dredged for about thirty years and another thing when I was a kid there used to be line men digging out the ditches not seen anyone digging out ditches for years
Great news – shame the Planning Department keep on approving large housing developments on greenfield sites which are already ‘nature-based sustainable drainage solutions (SuDS)’. They also say developments that connect to Sandown Sewage treatment plant are approved because this discharges sewage into the Channel and not the Solent (as if that is ok!). However Sandown treatment plant discharges directly into the Marine Conservation Zone.
£10M spent on improvements! Wow!
Er, remind me, how many millions on exceutive bonuses?
Precisely zero.
They should just leave the roads as they are and get the big swan pedaloes out of storage. It’ll be quicker and cheaper to get through that way.
I expect they will retain the potholes to store some of the water.
That’s only because they don’t know how to fill the potholes.
Lol