Environment Agency launches giant simulator to test flood defence products
Greenwise Staff
2nd February 2010
The Environment Agency has opened a simulation facility in Oxfordshire that will test products designed to defend businesses and homes from the effects of flooding and encourage new ones to be developed.
The
flood simulator, which has been developed by the
Environment Agency and HR Wallingford, features a replica living room inside a large tank – about half the size of a football pitch– that can be flooded by 196,000 gallons of
water. During the simulation,
flood defence products fitted in the building are tested to see if they meet industry standards. The opening of the new facility coincides with the introduction of a new
BSI standard – PAS 118. If products tested in the facility meet the standard they will be awarded the BSI Kitemark, a recognised symbol of quality.
“Manufacturers will have the benefit of being able to show that their flood defence product offers a high level of protection, and will be able to display the Kitemark,” said David Ford, executive director, Healthcare and Testing Services at BSI, the UK standards agency.
Robert Runcie, the
Environment Agency’s director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management, added that the new testing facility in Oxfordshire and industry standard would help those at risk to make “informed choices and have confidence in the flood products they buy, as well as encouraging new product development.”
One in six homes in England and Wales are already at
risk of flooding – and this number is likely to increase due to the effects of climate change.
The effects of flooding are felt by businesses too. A recent report from the
Environment Agency puts the overall bill for the floods that affected large parts of the country in the summer of 2007, at around £3.2 billion – with the costs to businesses accounting for almost a quarter of this total.