Flood Management Objective: Compare hard and soft engineering approaches to flood management Outcomes: Identify the difference between hard and soft engineering Identify the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods Decide on the best method to apply to a fictional flood scenario Starter: What is the picture of at the top of this page? Is it an example of hard or soft engineering? Can you tell me the differences between these two terms?

Decision Making Exercise (DME) Imagine you work for the council in ‘Westham’ In 2004 the ‘River Trame’ flooded to a level of 60cm (not for the first time) Damage was caused to properties on the high street and the fragile 19th Century stone bridge which crosses the river at the bottom of the high street The Environment agency has advised that any further flood damage would make the bridge unsafe for traffic.

DME Task: Read the Environment Agency probability data figure 1 Consider the repair options and costs in figure 2 Your budget is £5 million spread equally over the next 5 years Write a report outlining what you think should happen, give reasons for your decision

DME options: Rep[air the existing bridge. This s will cost £1 million. It could be done quickly, but future floods would cause as much damage again or even more Build a new bridge. It would cost £3 million. To build a bridge that could withstand a flood of 1m depth on the high street, and £10 million to cope with a flood of 3m in depth Install flood defences along the side of the river. This would cost £4 million. It would protect properties along the high street, but do nothing about the problem of the bridge. Include Channelisation and Levees Afforestation. It would cost £4billion, but would require you to buy up farmland. Loss of earning to farmers would be an additional 1 million. Do Nothing. Every year that a flood did not occur, money could be put aside to be used in case of an emergency in the future. Just because there is thge probability of a flood occurring every 5 years does not necessarily mean there will be one in that time. It could be many years before another flood. FIGURE 1 Depth (m) of flood water on the high street Probable frequency of flood (Years) 0.5 5 1.0 15 1.5 50 2.0 100 2.5 250 3.0 500 FIGURE 2

High street Shop owners (grocer goods, electrical and fashion) Points of View – You will take a role card and identify the opinion of that person about your proposal High street Shop owners (grocer goods, electrical and fashion) Commuter who passes over the bridge every day Local resident living near to and using the high street (lives ion flood zone) Town conservationist with an interest in the towns historical appeal to tourists Property developer who wants to expand the number of ‘in town’ houses to help cope with the towns increasing population Farmer who has land near to the river where riverside defences would be placed Local football team who would lose land to river side defences and also could not play on a flooded pitch

Review Feed back your report Did you amend your report considering the different viewpoints Explain your reason - JUSTIFY

Look at page 96-97 For each engineering method complete its advantage and disadvantage Write a letter to a newspaper arguing either for or against the use of hard engineering methods in flood management (Activity 5 page 96)

Exam Question Homework Page 97 skills Builder 1