Association of Drainage Authorities
Encyclopedia
The Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA) is a membership body for organisations involved in water level management within the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Membership

The Association's members are
  • Internal drainage board
    Internal Drainage Board
    An internal drainage board is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts...

    s (IDBs)
  • Environment Agency
    Environment Agency
    The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...

     regional flood defence committee
    Regional Flood Defence Committee
    A regional flood defence committee is a type of governmental body in England and Wales through which the Environment Agency Regions carries out their work on flood risk management.-Constituents:...

    s (RFDCs)
  • Northern Ireland Rivers Agency
    Rivers Agency
    The Rivers Agency is an Executive Agency of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development . It is the statutory drainage and flood defence authority for Northern Ireland. DARD is the competent authority for the implementation of the EU Floods directive and has deligated the day to day...



Associate members of ADA include local authorities, consultants, contractors and suppliers.

Activities

The main activities of ADA involve a wide range of work for and on behalf of its members including facilitating the exchange of ideas and promoting discussions to solving common problems and/or introduction of new approaches to members' work.

ADA responds to consultations from the Government, either on behalf of members or by facilitating individual member responses. It represents the interests of Drainage Authorities and other members nationally and locally, for example in relation to Bills in Parliament, other legislative measures, and local public inquiries. ADA acts collaboratively with other appropriate bodies or institutions to pursue the Association's objectives including linking to Europe through ADA's membership of EUWMA
European Union of Water Management Associations
European Union of Water Management Associations members are organizations in the EU member states representing organizations based on public law responsible for regional and local water management such as internal drainage boards or Waterschappen.At present, organizations from Belgium, France,...

, (European Union of Water Management Associations).

ADA obtains and disseminates information on matters of importance and interest to members, and provides assistance on technical and administrative problems. ADA organises exhibitions and demonstrations such as for the benefit of members, maintains a website and publishes the quarterly ADA Gazette.

Catchment 08 Exhibition

Catchment 08 on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18 September 2008 was the first in a new biennial series of Catchment exhibitions set up by ADA for the flood management industry. It was held at the East of England Showground, Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

.

ADA has been regularly organising exhibitions of supplies and machinery used by the flood risk management industry since the 1970s when the first ADA Demonstration was held on the bank of the Vernatt’s Drain near Spalding
Spalding, Lincolnshire
Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....

 in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

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IDB review

A review of internal drainage board
Internal Drainage Board
An internal drainage board is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts...

s (IDBs) was announced in June 2005 by Defra. ADA has been involved throughout the review process representing its IDB members. It is one of four organisations which have a permanent position on the IDB Review Project Board which drew together a detailed implementation plan for IDBs. As part of the process ADA produced a response to Defra's sub-catchment plans for IDBs entitled Moving Forwards with Defra's 'Rationale for Proposed Sub-catchment Internal Drainage Boards'

Summer floods 2007

The widespread flooding across the United Kingdom in June and July 2007
2007 United Kingdom floods
The 2007 United Kingdom floods were a series of destructive floods that occurred in various areas across the country during the summer of 2007. The most severe floods occurred across Northern Ireland on 12 June; East Yorkshire and The Midlands on 15 June; Yorkshire, The Midlands, Gloucestershire,...

 prompted a number of inquiries by several organisations into government policy on flood risk management both at a planning stage and during the event. ADA has assisted in a number of these including the Pitt Review chaired by Sir Michael Pitt
Michael Pitt (British civil servant)
Sir Michael Edward Pitt DL is chair of the Infrastructure Planning Commission, which has the role of considering planning applications for national infrastructure projects under the Planning Act 2008, and was appointed Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate from 1 April 2011.Pitt graduated...

, the Efra
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its...

 Flooding Report and Audit Commission
Audit Commission
The Audit Commission is a public corporation in the United Kingdom.The Commission’s primary objective is to improve economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local government, housing and the health service, directly through the audit and inspection process and also through value for money...

 report 'Staying Afloat'. ADA responded to these consultations through stakeholder meetings, formal oral evidence sessions and written responses after seeking the views of its members. ADA's response included a call for an enhanced and expanded role for internal drainage board
Internal Drainage Board
An internal drainage board is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts...

s, increased watercourse maintenance and the provision of more flood risk management engineers.

Surface water drainage

As part of Defra's Water Strategy, Future Water published in 2008, key policy proposals were set out in a supplementary consultation entitled Improving Surface Water Drainage. ADA interacted with the consultation process through stakeholder workshop events and a written response.

Guidance

In October 2008 ADA published in conjunction with Natural England
Natural England
Natural England is the non-departmental public body of the UK government responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, freshwater and marine environments, geology and soils, are protected and improved...

 The Drainage Channel Biodiversity Manual to assistance operating authorities
Operating authority
An operating authority is a body empowered under the Land Drainage Act 1991 or Water Resources Act 1991 to undertake land drainage or flood protection work in England and Wales. Operating authorities include internal drainage boards, the Environment Agency and local authorities....

 engaged in the complex management of our lowland drainage systems for water level management and wildlife.

Previously ADA has published other collaborative works with Natural England
Natural England
Natural England is the non-departmental public body of the UK government responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, freshwater and marine environments, geology and soils, are protected and improved...

 including national guidance for internal drainage board
Internal Drainage Board
An internal drainage board is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management within drainage districts...

s on mitigation measures for water voles.

ADA hosts an annual Local Authorities Seminar aimed to update and guide local authorities with their responsibilities to water level management.

As part of its role in the IDB Review, ADA produced a document 'Moving Forwards with Defra's Rationale for Proposed Sub-catchment Internal Drainage Boards' in April 2008. This document considered Defra's proposed Sub-catchment Maps, the Minister of State for the Environment's Letter and the Defra Rationale for Proposed Sub-catchment Internal Drainage Boards and highlighted the issues for discussions between IDBs.

Technical assistance

ADA has assisted internal drainage boards by developing a national flood risk management assets database system. Once complete the system will create a register of watercourses, pumping stations, sluices within IDB drainage districts. The system has had to take into account specific IDB requirements whilst ensuring a format that will enable ease of data transfer to future systems and user defined updates. The system is currently in the initial data gathering phase and is anticipated to go live during July 2008.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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