Surface Water Management Programme

The following entities can apply for SWMP funding: 

• public bodies, including local councils
• not-for-profit organisations, including charities and environmental non-governmental organisations
• companies or other business registered with HMRC, including sole traders, community interest companies and community benefit companies
• schools, including academy trusts, parents' associations or other organisations working on behalf of a school

You cannot apply for SWMP funding if you are a:

• central government department or one of their executive agencies
• non-departmental public body
• private individual

Projects eligible for funding in AMP7 must be completed and operational by March 2025. However, we’d welcome a conversation with you about ideas and projects that don’t fit within this window, to support planning for post 2025.

Anyone applying for funding must demonstrate consideration of how the feature will be maintained in the future.

The funding application will need to be signed by a person of a suitable authority within the organisation. Your supporting information may be in draft form at the application stage, in which case project approval will be subject to confirmation prior to signature of the funding agreement.

There’s no limit to the funding you may request, and you’re welcome to bundle multiple smaller projects or SWM features into a single application. As a guide, we anticipate a minimum request of £5,000. Funding requests exceeding £250,000 would be subject to additional assurance to provide confidence in the scheme delivery, cost effectiveness and overall benefit.

There's no limit on the number of applications from each local authority area.

The programme is seeking schemes with a cost effectiveness of below £750,000 per hectare of effective contributing area disconnected or redirected from Thames Water assets. This is equivalent to £75 per m². We encourage the use of multiple sources of funding to maximise what can be achieved within this programme and expect most applications to request less than this maximum value.

Applications with a higher cost per hectare may be considered, subject to demonstrating additional benefits and depending on specific project circumstance.

The SWMP funds will cover costs associated with the design and construction of the projects that: 

• disconnect rainwater from our sewers, discharging them directly to watercourses or ground (disconnection), or 
• re-direct rainwater currently discharging into our sewers through an attenuation feature before discharging back to our assets (attenuation)

The current connectivity to a Thames Water sewer (surface, foul or combined) must be investigated and evidenced by the applicant prior to final agreement of the scheme.

All costs must be directly associated with developing the surface water management projects or surface water management element (which may be only part of a wider project). The cost could include:

• feasibility study
• surveys
• detailed design
• construction costs
• initial maintenance costs for the first year
• management of the project development and execution, including appropriate reporting and technical assurance

The SWMP funding can cover up to 100% of eligible costs, however applicants are encouraged to search for other sources of funding. Applications that bring multiple funding sources together are likely to score more highly. Funding requests to cover 100% of the project costs should describe why additional funding has not been sought, to ensure value for money to our customers.

The SWMP funding won’t cover:

• any costs of the project not associated with surface water management
• buying or leasing of assets such as land or equipment

Sustainable drainage measures include but are not limited to water butts, planters, rain gardens, green roofs, detention basins, ponds, rainwater (combined with greywater) harvesting, and permeable paving. Examples of the types of schemes we’re looking to fund include:

• Incorporating raingardens into traffic calming build-outs or cycle lanes
• Downpipe disconnection into communal features, such as detention basins and swales in housing estates
• Property level SuDS such as water butts and planters
• Incorporating SWM features such as permeable paving and swales into highways improvements or resurfacing
• Surface water management to enhance wellbeing and education in schools and other public buildings, such as swales, planters and green roofs
• Rainwater harvesting for re-use, for example by a private business or a community garden
• Wetland creation in a park

We’re particularly looking for experience of a range of different types of projects and partners, to help inform our long-term strategy. Projects that include the following are more likely to be successful:

• Projects that provide added benefits to people and wildlife
• Projects that include vegetation / green infrastructure and/or water re-use
• Projects that disconnect from the foul or combined sewer, that falls in an area of low sewer capacity, or with incidents of flooding or pollution
• Projects with a low cost per m2 of output area

Previous schemes we’ve been involved with include:

• The installation of rain gardens on a London street
• Permeable paving protecting homes from flooding
• The introduction of planters to help prevent sewer flooding

The SWMP team will inform applicants within 10 working days of receipt of the application whether the application is accepted and will be progressed to the next stage of assessment, or whether further clarifications/information are needed. 

The application will be evaluated using a multi-criteria assessment methodology. Details of the Evaluation methodology and Scoring criteria are included in the application form. 

We’ll inform successful applicants via email. We’ll also send them the Standard Form of Funding Agreement to sign, as well as any relevant updates and feedback on the application, which may include further information.

The Standard Form of Funding Agreement sets out the terms and conditions for delivery of the project, funding release and any specific conditions that apply, including: 

• the start and end date of the project/agreement
• expected outputs (i.e. effective contributing area claimed by Thames Water) and supporting information required
• the amount of Thames Water funding and payment milestones
• what happens in the event of any changes

We understand that project details will develop, and small changes will occur; however, we reserve the right to withdraw or reduce the funding if key project parameters change.

This is the second project call, and currently the last public project call planned for this AMP period.

Last year we established strategic partnerships with Hounslow Council, Lambeth Council and the combined Cherwell, Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse councils, as areas with particular need around sewer capacity.

We’ve also dedicated funding to a further 5 local authorities who are in areas of limited capacity, as well as working with further partners including the DfE and TfL to develop a common understanding of aims and needs.

While we’ve faced challenges to establish the parameters of this programme in the face of a challenging final determination, we’re now in a position to move ahead with confidence.

We’re implementing the Surface Water Management Programme (SWMP) to deliver on a bespoke performance commitment as part of water industry’s Asset Management Plan 7 (AMP7, 2020-2025). 

We will prefer schemes in areas of limited sewer capacity (as assessed in our Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan - DWMP), but schemes aren't limited to options shortlisted by the DWPM. This programme will help to give us a head start on our DWMP programme in AMP8 (2025 – 2030), but for this AMP the two are not linked.