Understand the water.
Find a way
forward.
Concerned about flooding? Looking after drainage? Wondering how to help your river? Find clear explanations, practical ideas and a place to ask questions.
You do not need
to know the jargon.
Water connects our homes, streets, fields and rivers. Understanding those connections can make it easier to see what is happening and what to ask next.
Slow the Flow brings together information about flooding, drainage and river health. It is a place to explore ideas, consider different approaches and find your way to useful help.
About this resource ↗What would you like help with?
Start with the issue in front of you. Follow the links for more detail.
Flooding at home
Understand flood information, prepare useful questions and explore property resilience.
02Drains, rain gardens and SuDS
Find out how drainage works and what helps keep it working.
03Rivers, land and local places
Explore river restoration, natural flood management and ways to make room for water.
04Making sense of a report
Get familiar with flood assessments, maps, technical terms and the evidence behind them.
More room for water.
More room for ideas.
The familiar answer is not always the only one. Explore how slowing, storing and filtering water can fit into everyday places.
Explore the knowledge libraryUnderstand the connections.
Follow water beyond the property boundary, from where it falls to where it ends up.
Listen to local experience.
Observations from people who know a place can add detail that a map alone cannot show.
Think about the long term.
Consider who will look after a measure and how it will work through the seasons.
A guidebook for
a rainier future.
Read about rivers and sewage, fields and forests, streets and drains, and homes and gardens. Use the glossary whenever a technical term gets in the way.
Read the guides