THOUSANDS of pounds will be spent on providing Chard homes with water butts in a bid to ‘curb’ localised flooding.

Chard was badly hit by flooding in June and October 2021, severely affecting around 1,000 properties in the town centre, along the A358 Furnham Road, within the Glynswood residential area and along the roads at the town’s western edge.

A detailed investigation by Somerset County Council – which was published in June 2022 – ruled that the flooding had been partially caused by too much surface water, which overwhelmed the town’s sewers.

The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) has now set aside thousands of pounds in its annual budget to purchase water butts for homes across the town in a bid to reduce surface water.

The scheme – provisionally called the Chard Urban Run-off Butts, or CURB – was ratified by the SRA board when it met in Yeovil to set its budget on Friday morning (March 3).

A spokesman said: “A county council investigation showed that one big reason for the flooding was that too much surface water was running over land and overwhelming Chard’s combined sewers.

“Combined sewers take rainwater running off from gutters, drains and roads, as well as waste water from homes and businesses.

“As an initial step, the council and Wessex Water want to team up with residents to help reduce the amount of water that runs off from the gutters of their homes into Chard’s drainage networks.

“Extra SRA funding will enable more people to take part, so together they can make a bigger impact.”

The scheme will provide up to 1,000 water butts for Chard properties, especially those within the Crimchard and Glynswood areas – allow the equivalent of 2,500 full bathtubs of water to be safely stored.

The SRA and council will work with the Chard Area Resilience Group (CARG) to encourage people to safely reduce the amount of water stored in butts before heavy rain is forecast, in order for the system to have the maximum capacity when it is most needed.

The spokesman added; “If space is freed up, more water can be taken from downpours at times when this will make a noticeable difference to local neighbourhoods.

“Through such communal efforts, it is hoped that people will learn more about urban water management and climate change, which will help as further projects for Chard are developed.

“It is also hoped that people will start to see rainwater as a possible resource that can be useful in various ways. For example, if plants can be watered with stored rainwater not tap water, that saves money.”

While the SRA has not confirmed exactly how much will be spent on CURB, the scheme forms one of three projects within the “urban water management” of its budget, which have been allocated £100,000 between them.

Further details of the CURB scheme – including how to apply for a water butt – will be published in the coming months.