Sustainable water usage and the ongoing issues of future clean water sources, surface drainage and flooding are high on the political and economic agendas of both the UK government and the EU commission.

In the UK, Defra have recently released the latest UK Water Strategy, an inclusive document which outlines and advises members of the public, industry and professionals about how they can bring 'water' into their future thinking.

The EU is also proposing some quite radical water and property policies which are all released for consultation in 2008. RICS and our sister office in Brussels will be commenting in due course, but we would commend the Defra document to all interested members.