Chapter 13: Future outlook for urban drainage

The lack of flexibility in current drainage infrastructure combined with uncertainty, changing societal needs and demands affect the robustness and resilience of current drainage systems to future pressures. This chapter looks at how new thinking and alternative, more innovative ways to deliver a sustainable, affordable operating model for drainage services is required, including taking advantage of the opportunities from using a landscape-based approach to stormwater management. It examines skills and capacity planning, and the need to futureproof the workforce of the sector. In considering the pressures on drainage infrastructure, advances in digitalisation and technological innovation are considered as a means to unlock the potential of data-driven decision making and artificial intelligence, thus transforming sector efficiency.