Experts have raised concern that the City of London is at a high risk of flooding if homeowners keep paving over their gardens.
A recent study has revealed that unless London homeowners stop paving over their gardens, the city is at high risk of flooding, even from a relatively light rainfall.
Due to London’s population reaching a massive 11 million, an increase in cars within the capital and weather patterns becoming more extreme, City Hall, The Environment Agency and Thames Water backed a review into whether the London’s harsh restrictions and sky high parking space costs are contributing towards more front gardens being changed into parking spaces.
This review outlined areas where the sewage and drainage capacity may not be able to manage the increasing water flows by 2050 if no preventative action is taken, as well as revealing that over the last 40 years, over 17 per cent of permeable ground surface in London has been lost.
As a result of these environmental dangers, Boris Johnson has published the first London Sustainable Drainage Action Plan to ensure the city’s 150 year old drainage system does not overflow.
The plan aims to reduce the amount of water flowing into the sewer network by a quarter by 2040 by carrying out a series of measures.
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