Today, Tuesday 26th September 2023, marks the annual World Environmental Health Day.  The day looks “to raise awareness regarding the significance of the health of our environment”, with 2023’s theme revolving around “Global Environmental Public Health”. With the day’s dedication to environmental health, this blog draws focus on public health relating to water pollution on your site.

Significance of good drainage

When it comes to reducing water pollution on your site, it is important to ensure you have effective drainage systems in operation. Besides the fact that effective drainage can contribute to reductions in flooding on your site, they also have their environmental benefits. You do not want your polluted water draining from your site into clean watercourses, thus contaminating freshwater! As a result, effective drainage can ensure this is safely disposed of in the correct system. Furthermore, if possible, it would be better for your uncontaminated water to be drained from your site and recycled into the freshwater systems.

As a result, having separate drainage systems in place can enable this.

Different drainage systems

One key system to have on site is a foul water drainage strategy, carrying the waste from your site into the sewer system. This ensures that contaminated water is gotten rid of away from having adverse impacts in nearby freshwater. Alongside foul water drainage, a surface water drainage strategy can be implemented on your site. This looks to manage your surface water runoff to ensure this is safely drained to comply with the NPPF requirements, the Environment Agency or local planning policy in your site’s area. To reduce the risk of pollution entering watercourses through your surface water runoff drainage, it might be important to include devices to hold the pollution back from the water, such as silt traps. We at Unda can assist with both foul water drainage strategy and surface water drainage strategy for your site. Through our expert consultants, we can provide advice and design the most effective drainage strategies that are possible for your site.

During the awareness raised on World Environmental Health Day 2023 regarding public health, this blog has outlined the significance of mitigating water pollution. Installing drainage systems can help reduce pollution. Implementing freshwater drainage can enable the recycling of your site’s clean water back into water systems, whilst drainage of waste can reduce contamination. This is something that your sites in England and Wales can get expert advice on with Unda. For more information or a free quote for your site, please get in touch today.