Within the debate on flooding and climate change
there has been a tussle over how much the dredging of rivers - or its absence - has been to blame:
Flooding chaos is down to David Cameron, not climate change
The Environment Agency's failure to dredge clogged-up rivers is causing floods
By Christopher Booker 11 Jan 2014
Instead
of revealing that he has no idea what he is talking about, Mr Cameron
might concentrate on the real causes of the genuine problem highlighted
by the recent flooding, which has affected so many parts of the UK, not
least the vast area of the Somerset Levels. I have been talking to a
team from the Royal Bath & West agricultural society, who are
admirably and expertly trying to find a practical solution to the
damaging floods that in recent years have wrought havoc on a sixth of
our county, not only in the winter, which is customary, but even, as in
2012, for months of the summer.
There is no doubt that a central part of this problem lies in the refusal ofthe Government’s own Environment Agency,
since it took overall responsibility for draining the Levels in 1995,
to dredge the main rivers, which are so clogged up that they can no
longer carry away the run-off from flooding. This is exacerbated by the
fond belief of so many there, and in that other government agency,
Natural England, that the Levels should be allowed to return to the
swampy wilderness that they were before being drained by Dutch engineers
in the 17th century. (A former head of the Environment Agency was heard
to say that she would like to “attach a limpet mine to every pumping
station”.)
Flooding chaos is down to David Cameron, not climate change - Telegraph
Dredging will ease flooding in Somerset Levels, admits Environment Agency boss - Telegraph
Victims of the Somerset floods fought for rivers to be dredged but that may not end their miseryAndrew Gilligan 02 Feb 2014
Only
10 days ago, faintly “swampist” conservation groups such as the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds – a big landowner in the area – were
opposing “backward-looking 1960s-style dredging.” By Friday, the RSPB
had come out in favour of dredging. Last week, too, after years of
prevarication by government, David Cameron promised to make it happen.
Dredging
is not, of course, a magic answer. The main cause of the current
flooding was not the failure to dredge the rivers, but last month’s
unprecedented rain – in Somerset, around three times more than the
January average. As of last week, there were about 14 billion gallons of
water lying on the Levels. Even if every local river had been dredged
to its maximum extent, it would not have been able to soak up anything
like that much.
“Dredging would have made little difference,”
says Prof Thorne. “The floods this year and last are serious events that
would overwhelm most flood defences.”
Alterations to the
landscape in the wider catchment area – the 50-mile-wide bowl of land
running down to the Levels from the surrounding hills – also mean water
arrives in a faster and more concentrated way than it used to, making it
harder for the rivers to cope. Changes in the catchment, such as tree
planting, are needed, and will take years.
Yet, as Mr Gibson says, the authorities have clearly been “in denial” – or worse – about the help dredging could give.
Even
last week, the Environment Agency’s chairman, Chris Smith, was saying
that it would make only a “small difference” in the future. Alas for
Lord Smith, it turns out that the agency did in fact do detailed
computer models of the impact of dredging on the 2012 Somerset Levels
floods. Copies of this modelling, obtained by The Telegraph, show
clearly that dredging the two main rivers, increasing their capacity by
about half, would have “significantly reduce[d] the duration and depth
of flooding” in the worst areas.
So desperate were the people of
the Levels for dredging that they actually launched a charity appeal,
the Somerset Levels Relief Fund, to pay for it. Now, however, it looks
like the Government will pay.
Whatever happens after the waters retreat, life on the Somerset Levels will never be quite the same.
Somerset floods: 'Is this area for people to live in or for animals?' - Telegraph
There are other opinions:
It is
clear to see, reflecting back on the floods of 2007 (and those in 2005
and 2009), the lack of integration and disjointed policy across the two
central government departments has still not been resolved seven years
later. The fixation with dredging continues, and David Cameron has
called for dredging to start as soon as possible, reversing previous statements that it would be little help.
The inconvenient truth: houses built on floodplains could flood
Dredging rivers won't stop floods. It will make them worse
David
Cameron pledges to pursue a policy in the Somerset Levels that will
only lead to more dangerous rivers. But it keeps the farmers happy
George Monbiot
The Guardian, Thursday 30 January 2014 14.30 GMT
Jump to comments (592)
For
a moment, that rarest of beasts – common sense – poked a nose out of
its burrow and sniffed the air. Assailed by angry farmers demanding
dredging in the Somerset Levels, the environment secretary, Owen
Paterson, broke with time-honoured protocol and said something sensible:
"Dredging is often not the best long-term or economic solution and
increased dredging of rivers on the Somerset Levels would not have
prevented the recent widespread flooding."
He went on to suggest something I never thought I would hear from his lips: "Also, we need to do more to hold water back, way back in the hills."
Coming from the man who insisted in November that he would do what he could to help farmers keep the hills bare, this was an astonishing and welcome turnaround.
It reflects what his advisers in the Environment Agency have been
trying to say for years, before being sat on by ministers wanting
instant answers to complex problems and then – as the government still
plans – being sacked in droves.
A presentation by the agency, called To Dredge or Not to Dredge?,
spells out the problems in terms that even ministers can understand:
"The river channel is not large enough to contain extreme floods, even
after dredging. Dredging of river channels does not prevent flooding
during extreme river flows … The concept of dredging to prevent extreme
flooding is equivalent to trying to squeeze the volume of water held by a
floodplain within the volume of water held in the river channel. Since
the floodplain volume is usually many times larger than the channel
volume, the concept becomes a major engineering project and a major
environmental change."Dredging rivers won't stop floods. It will make them worse | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian
SOMERSET FLOODING: To dredge or not to dredge - battle lines drawn over floodings on The Levels
A bitter
battle over the best way to manage the Somerset Levels has erupted
after floodwater inundated the area for the second time in two years. Much
of the low-lying landscape, no stranger to disputes between farmers and
conservationists, is still under water after weeks of heavy rain that
first hit the Westcountry over Christmas. Somerset
Conservative MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has secured an adjournment debate
in the House of Commons on Wednesday next week, at which the cost to the
local commumity of the floods will be debated.
Two
sides have their say in debate over whether Somerset rivers shjould be
dredged to help flood waters to drain away | Western Morning News
CLYST ST MARY:
Is
it a matter of 'people before birds'? Some residents along the Clyst
Valley feel this is how their predicament is being veiwed:
Save
the Clyst is a collection of concerned locals and landowners opposing
the plans by the Environment Agency and RSPB to flood the valley for
"Habitat Creation". This is an Orwellian term to describe habitat
destruction
Sunrise
on the Clyst this morning. A mature environment, where nature and man
coexist in balance. Occasionally, nature overwhelms us, and it floods a
bit. All within the bounds of what we expect. We do NOT expect, however,
in this time of diminishing resources and increasing flooding, to be
pressured by the Environment Agency to flood land to satisfy their
unscientific whim.
Save the Clyst | Facebook
An
EA spokesman said: "The flooding in the Clyst Valley and across the
region in recent months was due to high river flows following
exceptionally heavy rainfall. It followed one of the wettest summers on
record. It was these high river flows that caused the road to flood as
opposed to a deliberate land management and habitat creation policy on
the part of the agency.
"It is likely the road could flood again
if we experience similar rainfall patterns and river flows in the
future. The existing defences have not been modified and I can confirm
the agency will continue to protect people and their houses from
flooding."Topsham flooding fears over EA plan | Exeter Express and Echo.
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