Where water is welcomed and rivers run clear
Slow the Flow is a guidebook for a rainier future, a place to explore how slowing water down can turn sewer spills into clean streams, flash floods into calm rivers, and concrete corners into living landscapes. From homes to hillsides, streets to sewers, this site brings together ideas, inspiration and practical steps to help communities work with water, not against it; giving every drop time to soak, settle and safely find its way.
Wander through the four landscapes where the flow runs fastest and where we can slow it: Rivers & Sewage, Fields & Forests, Streets & Storm Drains, and Homes & Gardens. Along the way, discover how Sustainable Drainage, Natural Flood Management, Property Level Flood Resilience, and Making Space for Water can help shape a future where water is welcome, not feared.
Why Slow the Flow?
Water shapes our world, carving valleys, nourishing soil, filling rivers and taps. But when it flows too fast, it erodes, pollutes, and overwhelms. When we slow it, we give nature time to filter and soak, engineers time to manage, and people time to prepare. We make room for water and for all the life that depends on it.
Our Rivers & Sewage systems are under strain. In older towns and cities, rainwater from streets and rooftops is funnelled into the same pipes that carry everything we flush. When heavy rain hits, these combined sewers quickly fill and spill, sending diluted sewage into rivers, streams, and the sea.
Storm overflows, once rare, now happen with worrying frequency, closing beaches, harming wildlife, and eroding public trust. By slowing the surge through greener connections, better drainage design, and small changes to how we build and connect our homes, we can keep sewage where it belongs: in treatment works, not waterways.
Upstream in our Fields & Forests, a different problem plays out. Here, water should linger in the soil, feeding roots and replenishing groundwater, yet compacted fields, straightened streams, and drained wetlands send it racing away. Along with the flow goes valuable topsoil, fertiliser, and the carbon our climate cannot afford to lose. Restoring wetlands, re-meandering rivers, planting woodland, and using Natural Flood Management features like leaky dams can help the land hold water longer, nourishing both farms and rivers.
In our Streets & Storm Drains, hard surfaces like tarmac and concrete shed water in seconds, funnelling it into drains that can’t always cope. The result is sudden surface water flooding, road closures, and overwhelmed sewers. But our streets can be reimagined: with Sustainable Drainage features such as rain gardens, tree pits, green roofs, and permeable paving, they can soak, store, and clean water before it reaches the drains.
Finally, at the receiving end, our Homes & Gardens face the water that has made it past all other defences. Here, Property Level Flood Resilience offers practical protection, from flood doors and smart airbricks to raised electrics, waterproof floors, and quick-dry finishes, so homes can resist flooding or recover quickly if water gets in. Gardens, too, can play their part: water butts, permeable paths, and planting schemes that thrive on rain help slow the flow at the doorstep.
And in towns and cities, we can go further, Making Space for Water in parks, plazas, squares and playing fields designed to flood safely in extreme weather, turning high water into a managed, temporary guest rather than a disaster. Together, these changes weave a network of places, rural and urban, public and private, where slowing the flow becomes second nature.