waterways management show and floodex

The Waterways management Show should be of interest to anyone who operates, manages or has responsibility for the upkeep of our inland waterways, including volunteers. It’s not about the boats and leisure activities around the waterways, but more about keeping and improving our waterways. The event runs on 22nd & 23rd November at Excel exhibition centre in London’s docklands.

The Waterways Management Show will be a must attend event for anyone working within organizations around the planning, maintenance and management of rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, harbours and marinas. This includes local authorities as well as commercial enterprises and volunteers. There will be a wide range of CPD accredited seminars, hosted by expert speakers, to attend free of charge to complement the exhibition stands and special features.

One of the presentations will be from Canal & River Trust, which is Canal & River Invasive Species Eradication Project, which we hope many will find interesting. There is a two day SuDS Theatre, a Floodex Theatre, which will be mostly Environment Agency presentations on the first day and a two day Waterways Management Theatre.

Canal & River Trust will have a stand at the show, with a working model and will be presenting in the Waterways Theatre. This important support will help tremendously in raising the profile of this important event and make a valuable contribution to its content.

Apart from making a valuable contribution to water level management and thereby having a positive impact on flood incidents, there is a whole other world around our inland waterways, which embraces farming & estates, infrastructure, leisure facilities, real estate, flora, fauna and the general environment, that have an impact.

This event aims to showcase the best products and services that will be valuable in getting the job done, from the lab to the field. Visitors will be able to talk to experts, suppliers. educators and thought leaders across a range of subjects, leaving the Waterways Management Show better equipped to deal with the pressures of inland waterways and surrounding land management.

Other valuable contributors and supporters across the events include: Inland Waterways Association, Rivers Trust, Environment Agency, CIWEM, CIRIA with susdrain, Institute of Fisheries Management, CAMELLIA and National Association of Drainage Contractors. We are also delighted to announce CanalsOnline Magazine as our most recent partner.

There has been fantastic interest in this new event, that we see as the 'third leg of the stool', having launched Floodex, then adding the National Drainage Show, to present an event that truly showcases a holistic approach to water level management and aims to gather most of the interested parties under one roof, on an annual basis.

Being collocated with Floodex, means many interested stakeholders will already be visiting, but this is an event for many that are focussed on management, upkeep and restoration of our inland waterways, such as rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs, as well as the fens, the land that surrounds them and other lowlands.

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) will be presenting either their new recommendations, or an update on what the government has done since their last report. In the 2022 report the NIC recommended stricter controls on new property developments. They said that nearly £12bn of investment in drainage infrastructure over the next thirty years will be necessary to stop thousands more homes and businesses from flooding, due to inadequate drainage. Hopefully, the new report will be available, by the time the show comes around and will make for an interesting presentation.

National Drainage Show Sits Perfectly Between two Other Events

There is a lot more to come for the National Drainage Show, which has the added bonus of being sandwiched between the Homes UK show and Futurescape, the commercial landscaping event, both of which will attract their fair show of developers, planners contractors and local authorities, who will then be welcomed to come into our event, if interested.

As a trade show, entry is free and you can register for a free ticket via the website

All seminars are open and free to attend.