End of Season SuDS Maintenance: Preparing for Winter and Beyond

Whilst regular inspections of the SuDS basins are carried out throughout the year, the beginning of our gardener’s winter work starts with the more intrusive tasks of the yearly basin cutbacks. If you see the teams in waders, don’t worry, they are not fishing, they are needed to physically enter the basins.

The teams will start by mowing the banks of the basins to allow seeds to lie in situ and germinate for the next cycle of these wildflower and wetland grass mixes.

Then it’s onto clearing any overgrown vegetation, paying particular attention to the inlets and outlets. These are the access points from the pipework that runs under the estate and help mitigate flooding on site.

Lastly, the team will clear the concrete bases around these inlets and outlets of any debris and silt, allowing water to freely flow into the basins over the next 12 months.

A task that is only required every 3-5 years is the gradual removal of any silt build up at the bottom of the basin, so this will vary site-by-site.

This completes the yearly heavy-duty work required on the basins, with a light mow of the grass required in the spring.