About the city
Birmingham is often referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom with a population of approximately 1 million. It is part of the West Midlands conurbation which accounts of almost 5 million inhabitants. Other municipal areas within the West Midlands include Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Solihull.
Birmingham rose from being described as a small village only worth 20 shillings in the Domesday Book (1086) to a powerhouse during the industrial revolution and become known as “the workshop of the world” or the “city of a thousand trades”.
However, today it is building a reputation as a commercial centre and tourist destination. In the future, most new developments will be built at much higher density that previously experienced. This will cause a “hardening” of the urban landscape with potentially 70 dwellings per hectare (mainly flats and terraced housing). This will therefore increase the need to control runoff from rainfall events and attenuate localised flood risk.
Water resources, pressures and issues affecting Birmingham
The water company in the Midlands, Severn Trent Water, estimates water usage at 132l/h/d/household (Severn Trent estimated average household consumption 2004-2005). If new housing developments are to meet sustainability targets on water supply reduction and efficiency of 20% on current demand equates to a reduction of 25l/h/d/household. In the UK, less than 26% of household have metered supplied and Birmingham follows a similar pattern.
The Sustainability Appraisal (SA), to date, indicated that Severn Trent has water recourse limitations in its area. Data from the Environment Agency shows that much of the region has no additional surface water available and in some areas, groundwater abstraction is unsustainable.
The main pressures on water in Birmingham, and the West Midlands as a whole, are similar to many other major Western European cities and can be divided into three distinct areas:
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Surface water management and quality
- Groundwater protection and management
- Flood risk
Over the last 50 years or so, Birmingham has moved from being an industrial city and now attracts many service sector industries. This has caused rising groundwater which is beginning to affect sub-surface infrastructure and mobilisation of pollutants from contaminated land. This is subsequently leading to pollution of fluvial systems and contamination of raw water supplies.
Increasing population (it is predicted that the West Midlands population will increase by 6.6% between 2003 and 2023) is leading to an increased demand for potable water and is increasing flows and loads in the sewerage system and wastewater treatment plants. This is a major problem for Birmingham as much of its area is drained by combined (surface and foul water) collector systems. Due to the increased urbanisation, Birmingham as exposed to increased localised flooding events which are further intensified by climate change, growing population and development of new industry to replace the former manufacturing based activities. This leads to regeneration of large areas and the need for an enhanced environment in which new skills can be developed which are attractive to inward investment in these new industries.
