Haven Gateway Water Cycle Study Stage 2 Report Haven Gateway Partnership November 2009 Final Report 9T0070 A COMPANY OF HASKONING UK LTD. COASTAL & RIVERS Rightwell House Bretton Peterborough PE3 8DW United Kingdom +44 (0)1733 334455 Telephone 01733 333538 Fax [email protected] E-mail www.royalhaskoning.com Internet Document title Haven Gateway Water Cycle Study Stage 2 Report Document short title Haven Gateway WCS - Stage 2 Status Final Report Date November 2009 Project name Haven Gateway Water Cycle Study Project number 9T0070 Client Haven Gateway Partnership Reference 9T0070/R/301073/PBor Drafted by Tim Burgess Checked by Fola Ogunyoye Date/initials check …………………. …………………. Approved by Fola Ogunyoye Date/initials approval …………………. …………………. IMPORTANT GUIDANCE TO THE USE OF THIS WATER CYCLE STUDY The Haven Gateway water Cycle Study was undertaken as a sub-regional study which covered a number of local authority areas. As such the level of detail entered in to for the study may be lower than a study carried out at a local planning authority or development area. The Stage 2 of the study was prepared over a period of 18 months from May 2008 to October 2009. During this period there have been a number of developing initiatives, particularly within the planning policy development, and the local authorities are at various stages within the processes which has meant that differing levels of information have been available across the sub-region. The report is based primarily on data valid at the end of 2008 and has not, in general, included changes to data or policies since that date. Key areas which are known to have changed are: • Issue of final Water Resource Management Plans by the Water Companies to Ofwat. There may also be further changes as a result of the determination of the PR09 submissions to Ofwat. • Latest guidance from the Environment Agency on the production of Water Cycle Studies (Water Cycle Study Guidance, January 2009). • Development scenarios in the short term due to changes in the economic climate. In addition it has been commented that in some areas the Urban Waste Water Directive (UWWTD) sets limits on pollution discharge that may be lower than those set under the Water Resource Act and so may impact on the apparent pollution consent headroom discussed within the report. This will need further investigation, either in local studies or within the next update of the study. Furthermore, solutions to both wastewater discharge and water supply issues have not been considered in detail and there may well be alternatives solutions to improve the use of water (such as effluent re-use) that have not been discussed in the current report. The conclusions of the report have adopted a precautionary principle in that they have been based on no future action, and therefore highlight that action is needed, irrespective of whether this action is already planned, or needs to be planned before development takes place. The intention of the report is to encourage and focus dialogue between the development partners to ensure that the various components of the water cycle are considered by all. It is expected that some local authorities or individual developers may need to take the water cycle studies into additional detail and develop strategies for implementing any actions required prior to, during and after development to ensure the longer term security of the water cycle. Haven Gateway WCS - Stage 2 - i - 9T0070/R/301073/PBor Final Report November 2009 The Water Cycle Study is a living document and it is intended that regular reviews and updates of the document will be undertaken and that comments received on this initial study will be incorporated into the first review. 9T0070/R/301073/PBor Haven Gateway WCS - Stage 2 November 2009 Final Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Haven Gateway Partnership commissioned a Water Cycle Study to ensure that water supply, water quality, sewerage and flood risk management issues can be properly addressed and thus enabling the substantial growth proposed in the East of England Plan to 2021 to be accommodated in a sustainable way. The study considered the Haven Gateway sub region which covers all of Colchester Borough, Ipswich Borough and Tendring District Council and parts of Babergh District, Mid Suffolk District and Suffolk Coastal District Councils. Current and future development in the sub region is centred on the two large urban centres of Ipswich and Colchester together with a number of smaller market towns, whereas the focus of employment is on the two ports of Felixstowe and Harwich. In total the draft regional Spatial Strategy identified the need for around 51,000 new homes to be built across the region between 2001 and 2021. The study commenced in 2007 and followed a staged approach to delivery. Stage 1 outlined the available data together with a broad assessment and was published in June 2008. The Stage 2 report looked in more detail at the water cycle and the impacts of development within specific areas on water supply, wastewater collection and disposal and flooding and was published in October 2009. METHODOLOGY The development of the water Cycle Study followed the concept of state - pressure - impact - management. The study set out to understanding the present state, assessed and presented the impact of proposed development pressures on it the water cycle and developed high level approaches and recommendations for accommodating the development within the capacity and environmental constraints of the water cycle and associated infrastructures. The study was based on information provided by the stakeholders, in particular the local planning authorities and water companies. It initially involved a strategic level review of Water Resources and Supply, Water Quality, Wastewater Collection and Treatment and Flood Risk. Three water companies supply the sub region with fresh water, Anglian Water Services, Tendring Hundred Water Services and Essex and Suffolk Water Services. All three companies have prepared draft Water Resource Management Plans which were used during the preparation of this report. Final Water resource Management plans are now being prepared but were not available for reference at the time this report was prepared. Water quality was assessed in terms of both the receiving watercourses and sensitive sites and the impacts of changing sewage discharges on these receiving watercourses. In addition it considered whether technology was available to improve the treatment of discharge to maintain a net zero increase in pollutant load. Haven Gateway WCS - Stage 2 - iii - 9T0070/R/301073/PBor Final Report November 2009 Wastewater collection and treatment was considered in terms of the discharge rates to be applied for new development, both residential and employment, which were then used in the more detailed analysis of each treatment works affected by the proposed development. Finally flood risk was considered by reference to the work being carried out by the Environment Agency and the local planning authorities on fluvial, tidal, surface water and groundwater flooding, together with looking at the impact of flood reduction measures on water abstraction areas and groundwater. Following the strategic view, a more detailed planning authority by planning authority assessment was made, looking in more detail at the same parts of the cycle, but considering development areas and sewage treatment catchments and establishing areas where there were issues that would require further investigation and action before development should take place in a sustainable way. SUMARY OF FINDINGS Water supply - all three of the water supply companies were confident that they had sufficient resources to supply the demands of the region over the forthcoming period and had plans in place to be able to realise these resources. There was a general assumption that the demand on water would reduce per capita due to metering, reduction in leakage and householder efficiencies and additional capacities would be addressed within their current improvement plans. Wastewater - in general wastewater infrastructure and wastewater treatment and discharge are reasonable constrained within the sub-region. There are numerous areas where the existing infrastructure is currently at capacity with no room for growth. In addition a number of the treatment works are at, or will reach capacity with the projected growth, and therefore will require increases to their allowed discharge together with potential extensions to the works. Water Quality - increases in discharge from sewage treatment works need to be accommodated within the receiving watercourses without adverse impacts. There are areas within the region where treatment improvements will be required to avoid any increase in pollution loads within the receiving water bodies. Flooding - the understanding of fluvial and tidal flood risk is reasonably understood within the sub-region and the majority of the proposed development falls outside of the defined higher flood risk areas. There is some development within brown field sites adjacent to water bodies that may be dependant on future flood defences to provide some degree of protection in conjunction with selection of appropriate development types. The consideration of surface water drainage and the adoption of suds techniques for drainage will apply to all sites. The detailed report summary shows the results of the analysis, rolled up to a single line for each development area. The overall analysis has adopted a precautionary approach which therefore tends to show a worst case scenario. The table shows the majority of the sites potentially requiring significant action before development can take place. The 9T0070/R/301073/PBor Haven Gateway WCS - Stage 2 November 2009 Final Report summary does not show the individual assessments which are shown in more detail in the local planning authority sections and show which of the six parameters analysed is affecting the ability of the site to accept development. For each development area and local planning authority a key set of actions has been identified to address these constraints.