FLOOD MANAGEMENT
dissertation was on ‘The Effect of Rising
Sea Levels on the UK’, something on
which he has spoken at the industryleading
Flood Expo in the past and will do
so again at this year’s expo (‘Is the Flood
Protection Industry Heading in the Right
Direction?) on Wednesday, 12 September
2019, at the NEC Birmingham.
His interest in fl ooding, fl ood
resistance and resilience, and the
environment was kick-started when
his family home was fl ooded back in
2007. Following that devastating event,
Crowther’s family decided they did not
want to go through the upheaval, expense
or stress again that the fl ooding caused.
When researching fl ood defences, it
became apparent, he says, that most
products were either “slow or expensive”.
The family purchased a Canadian Water-
Gate barrier to afford greater protection
should they be hit with a similar such
incident – while hoping never to need to
use it!
RAPID BLOCKADE
The concept behind the barrier is elegant
and simple. The barrier is a temporary
system that, once rolled out, self deploys,
using the weight of the water to hold it
back. The water lifts the top of the barrier,
while at the same time weighing the base
down, forming a seal. By utilising this
self-opening method, it reduces the time,
effort and number of people required to
install it, making it a rapid fl ood or water
diversion blockade.
The purchase proved to be a wise
investment. In 2012, once again rain
the like of which, Crowther says, “would
normally be seen in the tropics” hit their
village. The main street was turned into
what was effectively a brown fast-fl owing
river. The young Crowther rolled out the
Water-Gate barrier and it duly saved the
house from serious fl ooding.
His engineering interest was piqued.
He carried out detailed research into the
product and discovered it was available
in 25 countries, but not the UK. Aged 18,
he arranged a meeting in Paris with the
manufacturers and secured the sole UK
distributor rights.
Since 2012, the business has really
fl ourished and grown into one of the
UK’s leading fl ood defence companies.
It now works with customers that include
Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and the
Environment Agency and has secured
several large contracts to supply the
Water-Gate barrier.
In fact, the fl ood barrier was used
particularly effectively by the Environment
Agency in a project to minimise silt being
carried and deposited downstream. Gravel
deposits had built up at Chester Burn,
Durham, upstream of the log catcher.
This was preventing the river level
monitoring equipment from working
correctly and impeding the water fl ow.
To address this, the agency excavated
a trench lengthways through the gravel
adjacent to the low sheet piled wall to
allow water to fl ow and the river level
gauge to function. The time and manpower
saved resulted in effi ciency savings for
the agency, it states. “I thought the Water-
Gate was excellent,” says the agency’s
Andrew Foster. “I was very impressed with
how easy it was to deploy, which resulted
in our desilting project being carried out
swiftly.”
TO THE RESCUE
Another enthusiastic user of Water-Gate
is Essex County Fire and Rescue Service,
which has secured 20 such portable
barriers to help protect homes across
the county from fl ooding. Funded by
Essex County Council, the barriers can be
despatched from four fi re stations. The
Water Gates are highly portable and fi t
into a small holdall, weighing less than
20kg each. They can also be connected
to one another, creating a barrier totalling
180m. “Our water barriers will provide an
additional defence to properties at risk
of fl ooding, while building confi dence in
communities,” says station offi cer Duncan
Lewis, Technical Fire Safety. “They are
easy to assemble and to pack away; they
are light and they are effective against
surface water fl oods, burst hydrants and
even tidal surges. After all, fl ooding can
devastate homes and ruin lives.”
Far left: Simon Crowther with Mary
Dhonau OBE at Botcherby Community
Centre in Carlisle. Botcherby Community
Centre was badly fl ooded in December
2015 and then had to undergo fl oodresilient
repair. Crowther’s company Flood
Protection Solutions donated a ‘puddle
sucker’ pump to the community centre
to help shore up its defences.
www.ied.org.uk 21
/www.ied.org.uk