A FLOOD campaigner from Worcester has been honoured for nearly two decades of hard work protecting people from the perils of flooding.

Mary Dhonau, chief executive of the Know Your Flood Risk campaign, has been awarded with an honorary fellowship of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM).

The award was presented at the CIWEM’s annual dinner on May 17 at Draper’s Hall in London.

The CIWEM Honorary Fellowship is held by an exclusive group of people who have made an exceptional contribution in the field of water and the environment.

CIWEM gives the award to people it particularly wishes to honour and it is intended to mark the Institution’s appreciation of their work related to water and environmental management.

Mrs Dhonau has been recognised for the contributions she has made in the field of flood risk management across the country, for the past 17 years.

As a result of being a victim of flooding on several occasions, she has made it her personal mission to champion the promotion of flood awareness, protection and resilience.

This work has led to Mrs Dhonau being awarded an OBE for services to the environment in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2009, receiving an Honorary RICS (HonRICS) status in 2014, as well as being presented with the ‘Voice of the Customer ‘award at the CII Public Interest Awards 2015.

She was also awarded with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West of England in 2015 for her ‘outstanding national contribution to flood risk management’.

Mrs Dhonau, affectionately known by many as ‘Mary Queen of Floods’, said: “It means a great deal to me to know that the work I do in helping to make people more aware of flood risk is being recognised by the wider environmental and water management communities.

"It is now 17 years since I was first flooded, and since then, I have made it my mission to help other people and their wider communities in dealing with the prospect of flooding.”

Mrs Dhonau is the chairman of the Flood Protection Group for the Property Care Association.

She also runs a consultancy (MD Associates) specialising in raising awareness of flood risk, how to militate against it and recover from it.