Severn Trent has been installing Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) across Mansfield that aim to reduce the flooding risk in the town – and is using nature to do it.

The company said towns and cities are more at risk of flooding than ever before. Climate change means rainfall is tricky to predict; there are more buildings, roads, and paved areas; and when it rains heavily, there’s nowhere for this water to go.

There are a number of different types of SuDS that Severn Trent has been installing across the town. They vary in size, but do the same job.

The majority look like bowls in the ground, whether that is the larger detention basins that can take up to a million litres of water, or bioswales that are found in smaller green spaces and use plants and soil to soak up the rainwater.

SuDS work by capturing surface water run off during times of adverse weather, and then slowly releasing it back into the ground or the waste network, to help it cope with the added pressure that comes with extended periods of rain.

Severn Trent said by the time water has filtered through the SuDS, the waste network should be running back as normal. As these SuDS hold back rainwater, it is normal to see them full of water following heavy or prolonged rainfall, because they are just doing the job they were created for.

It takes roughly around 48 hours for the water to pass through, so if there is no more rainfall, the water level in SuDS will have dropped by the following day.

Adam Boucher, operations lead for Mansfield Green Recovery, said: “Our SuDs have been designed to help the waste network in Mansfield cope better during adverse weather conditions. We completely understand that it’s worrying to see them full, but we’d like to reassure locals that they are doing exactly what they are designed to do.”

Severn Trent is responsible for maintaining SuDS across Mansfield. If you are worried about the state of one of their SuDS or would like to report damage, email [email protected]