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Recommendations to Update Non-Statutory Technical Standards for Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)

The report, research summary, research slidepack and dissemination video are available on Defra’s Science Search:

Click Here To See The Report

The aim of this project was to investigate whether updating the current Non-Statutory Technical Standards could help provide for multiple benefit SuDS, and if so, what those updates should be. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to replace the current standards 1 to 6 with a new suite of standards. The new standards cover the following:

  • Standard 1: Runoff destinations
  • Standard 2: Everyday rainfall
  • Standard 3: Extreme rainfall
  • Standard 4: Water quality
  • Standard 5: Amenity
  • Standard 6: Biodiversity

Defra will use this research to inform its drainage policy development.

This research was delivered by HR Wallingford Ltd and sub-contractors (CIRIA, Illman Young, McCloy Consulting, Coleman Planning & Environmental, Balfour Beatty).

If you have questions on this research project, please email the Floods and Water Research Team: floods.water.research@defra.gov.uk

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