Welsh Water to launch new £10,000 RainScape Community Fund

After almost a decade and over 1.3 million hours worked, Welsh Water is launching its final £10,000 RainScape Community Fund to give something back to the communities affected by the innovative work.

RainScape is Welsh Water’s approach to managing surface water and reducing sewer flooding by separating rain water from the existing system, slowing down the rate it enters the network and by redirecting it to local rivers and watercourses, and in some cases, removing it completely.

Now, the not-for-profit water company is encouraging all non-profit organisations in Llanelli and Gowerton including local community groups, charities and schools to apply for a share of the £10,000 as a way of saying thank you to these communities.

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has invested £115 million across Llanelli and Gowerton, of which £95 million was invested in Llanelli, with the majority of this going towards RainScape projects in the community.

With the help of contractor partners, Morgan Sindall, Welsh Water has completed 36 RainScape projects in the Llanelli area since the project was launched in 2012. This has involved laying around 14 miles of new pipework and kerb drainage, tunnelling just under one mile underground to create rainwater sewers and planting almost 10,000 plants and trees in swales, planters and basins.

As part of the work, Welsh Water created three RainScape schools at Stebonheath Primary School, Halfway Community Primary School and Dafen Primary School and educated 1,144 school children in Llanelli. Some of the key projects included a 100-metre swale at Queen Mary’s Walk and a 1km rainwater tunnel from Llanelli town centre to Delta Lakes, which was created by the project’s tunnelling machine ‘Jarvis’.

Steve Wilson, Managing Director for Wastewater, Business Customers and Energy at Welsh Water, said: “We are proud to have completed our RainScape projects in the Llanelli community, which was the first of its kind in the UK.

“RainScape is now preventing around 1.5 million m³ per year from entering the sewer network in Llanelli, meaning this rain water is not being unnecessarily pumped and treated and is going straight back into the environment.

“We know our RainScape work has had a big impact on the lives of our customers living in Llanelli and Gowerton, and we want to thank them for bearing with us while we carried out this essential work. This is why we are launching our RainScape Community Fund to thank the communities we have worked in over the last few years, and we’d like to encourage all eligible groups to apply.”

As well as managing surface water and reducing sewer flooding, Welsh Water’s innovative RainScape work is already helping to improve the environment in Llanelli and Gowerton. This work has seen a 95% reduction in combined sewer overflow (CSO) spill volumes helping to improve water quality and protect the environment.

Llanelli MP Nia Griffith said: “I am very grateful to Dwr Cymru for the very significant investment that they have made in the RainScape programme in Llanelli, to help reduce flash flooding and spills into the estuary from overloaded sewers by slowing down the run-off from hard surfaces, so it percolates more slowly through soft soil and green landscaped areas. But we cannot be complacent and must be mindful of the need to ensure effective provision for surface run-off whenever we build or re-develop.”

Llanelli MS and Deputy Minister for Climate Change Lee Waters added: “Flooding has been a big problem in parts of town for many years. Our changing climate and more extreme weather means we can’t keep relying on the old methods to stop flooding.

“The RainScape project has added a refreshing splash of greenery across Llanelli. But it’s about more than just pretty planters. Myself and Nia Griffith MP are noticing far less flooding complaints in our inboxes, which is testament to the success of this greener way of managing rainwater.  I’m delighted that Welsh Water are now launching a RainScape Community Fund that will help to develop a network of green spaces and pocket parks.”

The RainScape Community Fund, which opens for applications on Friday, 28^th May, will give groups the chance to enhance the area they live in, to improve safety or to support education.

To be eligible for funding, the groups must be based within an area that has been affected by a RainScape project, such as Llanelli, Burry Port or Gowerton. They can apply for the funding to help them develop, launch or maintain a community project, which they will manage and deliver.

If you would like more information about this opportunity or would like an application form, please email rainscape@dwrcymru.com

The deadline for completed applications is 5pm on Friday, July 30.