Good news on Camden's lost urban rivers

It may seem like global warming has been replaced by a new ice age, but it's important to remember that one cold spell does not change the upward trend. According to the Met Office the 17 warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 20 years.

The other thing to remember is that global warming doesn't simply mean that the planet will heat up. It means that the amount of energy in the climate system will rise, leading to increasingly violent weather conditions. So, for example, although overall UK temperatures are predicted to increase, in winter we will be subjected to more violent storms and more rainfall over shorter timescales.

Our sewers already cannot cope with the amount of storm water that falls. That's largely because we've spent the last 50 years concreting over everything in sight. As a result rainwater is pushed as fast as possible to the sewers which simply cannot cope and so flooding occurs.

What we really need to do is to replace as many hard surfaces as possible with soft (permeable) surfaces. For example, front gardens and driveways do not need to be paved – they can be permeable and still provide parking facilities. Green roofs soak up storm water which is another way of preventing flooding. But we also need to install waterscapes wherever possible with swales that attenuate storm water. This is common place in Germany where flooding is, as in the UK, a growing problem. A swale could be something like a football pitch which is built in a slight dip. Then the storm hits the pitch it becomes a swimming pool. When the storm is over, the water then either evaporates or is released slowly into the water table or the sewers.

We sometimes forget that humans have an almost spiritual connection with water – it makes us feel good. It is, I believe, no coincidence that the South Bank walkway along the Thames from Tower Bridge to the London Eye has been a huge success. It is the most visited part of London by Londoners.

In Camden we have an opportunity to do create some similarly attractive waterscapes which would also be useful as climate change begins to bite. We could open up wherever possible our two underground rivers – the Fleet, which starts at Hampstead Heath and ends at Blackfriars Bridge, (see map below) and the Kilburn – both to place-shape the public realm for the better and to act as storm water retention facilities.

The Environment Agency is just about to begin a project to "daylight" some of London's lost urban rivers. In its editorial pages The Guardian lamented that the Fleet river was not included. I'm delighted to be able to report that, following an email from me, the Chair of the Environment Agency, Lord Chris Smith, has asked his staff to see whether the Fleet and Kilburn can be included in the work being done.

We do not accord enough importance to the role of water in peoples’ lives. We should do more to celebrate water. It is essential to human life but it can also be a significant source of human happiness. Daylighting our lost urban rivers would be an excellent way to help us to reconnect with water.