Rethinking drainage: the case for water sector and local government collaboration on SuDS

This is a guest blog from Hannah Muirhead, Senior Associate in the Innovation Team at Ofwat.

After eight years at a local government think tank, exploring the challenges and opportunities councils face in delivering essential services, I recently joined the Innovation team at Ofwat, bringing a deep appreciation for the power of collaboration in tackling complex issues. The intersection of local government and the water sector is particularly exciting because it represents a space where innovation can deliver real, tangible benefits for communities. Councils shape the places we live, work, and build our futures, and water companies manage infrastructure and deliver resources that underpin those spaces. Through joint working, the opportunities for creating greener, more resilient towns and cities that manage water sustainably, are sizeable.

Opportunities for local government

Flooding is one of the most pressing challenges facing the water sector. Climate change is driving more frequent and intense rainfall, overwhelming drainage and combined sewer systems and increasing flood risk. At the same time, urban expansion is reducing natural drainage, giving surface water fewer options for soaking into the ground.

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) manage surface water in a way that replicates natural drainage processes and offer a vital solution to surface water flooding. In addition to reducing flood risk, SuDS provide a range of co-benefits including creating greener urban spaces, promoting biodiversity, cooling cities and enhancing public wellbeing. Despite this, their implementation remains inconsistent. To truly scale up SuDS, the water sector needs new approaches; innovation to rethink how we design and maintain these systems, and collaboration with all relevant actors: start-ups, regulators, academia, roads and infrastructure bodies – and local government.

Local authorities are central to the success of SuDS. They have place-based insights, planning powers that influence how new buildings incorporate drainage, and an ability to integrate SuDS within their wider strategies for urban development, housing and climate resilience. Councils are well-placed to bring together local stakeholders, ensuring that SuDS solutions meet environmental and community needs – and also that their benefits are communicated effectively. However, councils also face significant challenges in delivering SuDS, including:

• Funding constraints – tight budgets make delivery and ongoing maintenance of SuDS a challenge.
• Regulatory complexity – SuDS responsibilities are spread between different organisations leading to fragmented delivery and blurred accountability
• Technical expertise gaps – some councils have strong in-house SuDS teams but many lack the resources to develop and assess schemes effectively.

The water sector has a critical role to play in supporting local governments to overcome these challenges. Water companies have deep technical knowledge of drainage networks and hydrology and can offer valuable insights into where SuDS would have the most impact. They also have extensive data on surface water flow patterns and sewer capacity, which can help councils make informed decisions about where and how to implement SuDS. By sharing this data and expertise and collaborating on joint planning, councils and the water sector can more strategically deliver SuDS to maximise impact.

Crucially, water companies also have access to water innovation networks and funding streams. The Ofwat Innovation Fund is a £600 million investment into innovation over 10 years. The first five years has seen a total of £200 million of funding available for water companies and partners to bid for between £150,000 and £10 million for innovative water projects that promote collaboration between water companies and other stakeholders and drive innovation to address the whole spectrum of water challenges. Of the 93 projects funded so far, five are being delivered in partnership with local authorities, which represents significant opportunity for more collaboration with councils for the delivery of SuDS and other innovative projects that address shared challenges.

The Ofwat Innovation Fund has been confirmed to double to £400 million between 2025-30, which will include additional resources for expanding the scope and impact of its innovation programme, including drives to deepen cross-sector working and smooth pathways for project implementation – and will be looking to strengthen relationships with local government and other water-adjacent sectors to facilitate this work.

Case studies from the Ofwat Innovation Fund

The following three case studies demonstrate the types of project that Ofwat is funding to deliver sustainable drainage innovations through collaborations between water companies and local government.

Developing a market-based approach to deliver SuDS through streetworks – led by Thames Water and the Greater London Authority, and awarded £1.3 million of funding, this project is developing a market-based approach to integrating SuDS into street reinstatement work, capitalising on already-planned utility excavations. The project is connecting “sellers” of SuDS – infrastructure providers such as energy utilities and Transport for London who are offering SuDS opportunities at excavation sites – with “buyers” of SuDS – local authorities, water companies, and other stakeholders seeking cost-effective SuDS implementation. By aligning SuDS delivery with existing streetworks, the project is reducing costs by up to 25%, minimising disruption, and creating a scalable, structured approach to urban drainage.

SuDS iQ – £959,243 has been awarded to a collaborative partnership led by Southern Water alongside Brighton and Hove Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Hull City Council to develop a national online collaborative platform for SuDS designed to enhance collective understanding of their function, benefits, and implementation. The platform aims to drive efficiencies in partnership working, particularly with local authorities, and support them in the adoption of environmentally beneficial drainage solutions.

Enabling Water Smart Communities – a partnership led by Anglian Water with the London borough of Tower Hamlets, Suffolk County Council and others received funding of £5.5 million from Ofwat. This project explores the relationship between integrated water management, community engagement and housing/planning policy to enable new housing developments to treat water where it falls. This aims to reduce flood risk and improve water quality for residents through a range of place-based, community informed water management measures – including sustainable drainage systems.

The impact of SuDS implementation

To deliver for customers, communities and the environment, the water sector will benefit from wider scale SuDS implementation. The ripple effect potential is huge: by slowing the flow of rainwater into the sewer network, or diverting rainfall into more green spaces or raingardens, the pressure on our sewer network is alleviated, ultimately reducing storm overflows, the need for storm storage and the demands on wastewater treatment works.

Local authorities play a crucial role in delivering SuDS, but they require support and collaboration from water companies to do so more effectively. By developing partnerships with local government, the water sector can help unlock barriers to SuDS delivery – providing technical expertise, data, and access to innovation funding to pair with local government’s place-based insights, planning powers and community engagement dexterity.

The Ofwat Innovation Fund is already demonstrating how partnerships between water companies and councils can drive real impact. With continued investment and stronger cross-sector collaboration, we can move beyond fragmented SuDS delivery towards a more integrated, effective approach that benefits communities, the environment, and the water sector alike.

To find out more about the Ofwat Innovation Fund, take a look at the website, and subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates.