Thomas Dollard – ICE/CIWEM Yorkshire and Humber Flooding and Water Quality Conference

On the 27th of November, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Yorkshire and Humber flooding and water quality conference in Leeds. This is the third time the event has been run and the conference discusses lots of key issues such as rising sea levels and water quality affecting the Northeast of England.

As an early career professional (ECP) in the first stages of my career, opportunities like these are rare and are something that graduates should be aiming to get involved in. This event has allowed me to further develop my understanding on key issues affecting the people in these regions and the challenges they face in implementing solutions to help resolve them. Before lunch, two sessions were running - the first focused on the holistic approach to river basin management chaired by Chris Campbell that covered nature-based solutions and connected by water alliance, the second focussed on navigating climate change for effective planning.

The first session gave me insight into the connected by water partnership. This is a group of organisations that have come together to tackle the increase in flooding and heavy rainfall caused by climate change. The second session covered the effects that climate change has had on four key areas which are:

-??????? The Humber

-??????? Integrated strategy and planning

-??????? Sewer management

-??????? Businesses

In this session I learnt about some of their predictions and what rising sea levels and increased rainfall will mean for the people and business of the Northeast, and what strategies can be implemented to help mitigate and minimise the effects of climate change. The first two sessions helped layout the issues affecting The Northeast but also covered the difficulties with implementing some of these solutions.

I also had the opportunity to participate in a workshop event about urban flood and water quality challenges. We had the opportunity to put forward questions and have them answered by a range of industry leads. This allowed me to understand new perspectives about issues facing the water industry such as deteriorating asset health and low public support. Being able to take part and get involved in this has greatly benefitted me as I have been able to listen and talk to people with a range of experiences in this sector and gain their views on how they think the water industry should change to tackle these issues.

Finally, the event ended with a session on nature-based solutions and land management. This session talked about SuDS and the new Biodiversity Net Gain and how developments can meet the new 10% increase in biodiversity. My favourite part of this session was the talk about sustainable Farming by James Brown as it provided a unique approach on how a farm near the Humber is trying to tackle climate change using reverse coal. This is a process of rewetting the peat in the farm, establishing crops on the land to harvest and then put the biomass through a process called pyrolysis in order to produce biochar which is then buried this is putting carbon back into the ground.

Throughout the day I had opportunities to network and meet other graduates as well as industry leads from a range of companies and business. This helped me further develop my professional network and build new strong working relationships that I’m sure will benefit me in the future. Coming away from this conference I’ve seen the benefits of collaboration between local councils, government agency and private companies in tackling existing climate change and water quality issues.