The risk of flooding in the UK has, unfortunately, seen a huge increase in recent years. The Environmental Agency has stated a report that climate change ‘will undoubtedly exacerbate the pressure on England’s water environment’.
Climate change will cause more extremes in weather, resulting in increased flooding and droughts, rising sea levels and a greater demand on flood removal and protection.
In fact, so severe is the increasing problem, it’s estimated that 5 million people live in flood risk areas in England and Wales, and one in six homes are at risk of flooding. Not only is there a human consequence to this problem, causing devastation to people who are stranded, often with no electricity and little information from the Emergency Services, there is also the estimated annual cost of £1.1 billion every year required to remove the flood water and make reparations.
The Environment Agency work with teams of professional flood water experts to help pump the excess water from the areas. The Environment Agency provide to an immediate and cohesive response to these situations supported by pump supply companies when responding to the challenges of the situation.
Pump Supply Companies need to provide adequate numbers of pumps, pipework, ancillary equipment and experienced teams of engineers to ensure the effective and efficient removal of the floodwater. As you would expect, huge amounts of water need to be pumped away from residential areas. As an example, when 5 million tons of water was pumped away from towns in Somerset in February 2020 this equated to just 20% of the total volume that needed to be expelled.
Most flood dispersal operations take many days to complete. Around 30 submersible drainage pumps, together with over 2km of pipework, valves, control panels and generators are required to support the Environmental Agency in responding to extreme flooding conditions, as experienced in North Yorkshire recently.
The county of Somerset was just getting over Storm Ciara when Storm Dennis blew in 2020. Roads were undriveable, homes were without power and transport services were severely affected. Equally, the extreme weather conditions make it challenging for the pump supply companies and engineers to do their job too.
We are Pump Supplies, leading suppliers of electric submersible pumps into the UK and Irish markets.
We operate out of 5 strategically located depots across the UK and our business specialises in all aspects of submersible pumps, from hire & service to sales and pump station installation. We are the UK’s leading distributor of Flygt pumps, including spare parts and accessories; all tailored towards offering a complete and bespoke solution to our customers.
For more information about our Company and how we can help you, take a look at our website www.pumpsupplies.co.uk or contact us here.
