Staveley pupils put sustainable rainwater management in the picture

Pupils from Staveley CE Primary School put sustainable rainwater management in the picture when they designed their own super SuDsPods.

SuDsPods are specialised planters that temporarily store rainwater for a period of time, before slowly releasing it into the sewer network. United Utilities has already installed a range of these at the school and the village hall and pavilion in Staveley.

After learning about the important role these can play in ‘slowing the flow’ of rainwater into the village’s sewer network, pupils took up the challenge to design their own in an art competition organised by the water company.

And now the winners have had their artwork displayed on a new sign outside the school.

Katy Bevan from United Utilities’ Rainwater Management team explained: “We have an Action Plan for Staveley to reduce storm water spills into the River Kent.  One part of this is improving rainwater management so we can remove excess surface water.

“As well as distributing 200 slow-release water butts to homes in the village, we have installed SuDSPods at the village hall, the pavilion and the school. It is important that people understand why we are doing this, so I hosted an assembly to explain what we were doing.

“The pupils were really interested so we set a competition to design their own SuDSPods – and the results were fantastic.”

Headteacher Lisa Strange said: “The children really enjoyed the competition to design their own SuDSPod and the opportunity to use their creative talents. The winners were so proud to see their work on the new sign which is displayed outside school for everyone to see and the whole school were excited for them when the sign was unveiled in our special assembly this week. Thank you to the team at United Utilities.”

United Utilities is currently carrying out ground investigations in the Staveley area. This involves drilling boreholes which will indicate the condition of the ground, soils and water table levels. This information will be used to develop engineering solutions for Staveley.

Residents are invited to learn more about United Utilities’ plans for Staveley. The team will be hosting a public drop-in session on Wednesday, 12 March in the Village Hall from 2 -7pm.