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C R Hatter & Son, Spalding Lincs
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Flood prevention - is Defra working quickly enough?
Farmers face peril during times of flood
Water surges through Workington and other Cumbrian towns, washing away road bridges and causing devastation in shops, houses and industry. But how is the main industry in the area - agriculture - effected?
LIVESTOCK As the rain fell and the waters rose hundreds of individual farmers, often working single-handed, were going out to move sheep and cattle away from danger. As the rivers flood the surrounding fields so the stock move to dry land which may be a temporary island which will in time be covered, and the stockman has to wade out and shepherd them away to safe ground. Detailed local knowledge is vital, as he can easily walk into a ditch or other deep water.
The dangers are real, and it is extraordinary there have been no reported farming casualties. Rescue teams in the towns work in groups, and have quality equipment and high viz water-proofs. The farmer wears his normal green oilskins, coloured so as not to alarm the stock he works with every day, but which make him near invisible. Picture the farmer seeing his marooned animals across 100 yards of more of flooding, knowing that they are in danger of being swept away. The instinct is to act immediately, wade in and get to work, before it's too late, and this will be the scene in all flooded areas.
The physical danger is simply one of a number of major problems. Livestock farms see slurry lagoons filling uncontrollably, with the danger of overflowing into streams. Rainfall of this quantity can blow into barns and stores where feed is kept dry, and can puddle under outdoor silage clamps, causing damage.
ARABLE Heavy rainfall causes rivulets that cut a swathe down sloping ground removing hundreds of tons of precious topsoil off arable land, and can also do the same with grass. This is permanent damage, it's all but impossible to replace this topsoil. Winter planted crops are remarkably robust if flooded for a short period of time, but if the water is moving quickly, or stands for many weeks, the plants will die. These areas will need to be re-sown with spring varieties.
High winds, such as those we have been experiencing for the past week and more, damage farm buildings, blowing off the asbestos or corrugated steel sheeting. A decade of low profitability in farming has meant that repairs and replacement to buildings has not gone ahead as it should. On many farms there simply isn't the time to do necessary repairs, so these jobs get postponed. Water gets into wooden purlins over time, allowing the roofing nails to be ripped out easily.
FENLAND Low lying fenland areas are dependent on continuous pumping with district drainage schemes. When rivers are full and the fens are wet the dangers of banks being burst are always present. Living and farming below sea level has a another whole set of risks.
Can anything be done to reduce the effects caused by such heavy rainfall?
Who is in charge?
In England the issue falls squarely on the shoulders of the Environment Minister, Hilary Benn, and his department, and in Wales the issues rests with Jane Davidson who is Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing.
Action taken both in England and Wales since the summer floods of 2007 could have been scripted for 'Yes, Minister'. A report was commissioned, and the Pitt Review highlighted the need for
· the need to clarify roles and responsibilities,
· the threat of surface water flooding to our urban communities,
· the vulnerability of our infrastructure to flooding,
· the need for partnership working and sharing information; and
· the need for stakeholders to engage with the communities at risk of flooding;
Jane Davidson, in a recent report, stated that confusion regarding roles and responsibilities remained.
A plethora of 'Yes Minister' studies
Hilary Benn's department has not been idle. Apart from the Pitt report, they have produced R&D reports based on numerical modelling all with recommendations, and this month the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee announced that the Draft Flood and Water Management Bill was among its current enquiries. This report was published on Sept 23 and a Government response issued in November 2009.
Another report, from the Institution of Civil Engineers concluded that householders who paved over their front gardens were making the flooding problem worse. Their survey in Morpeth, which was effected by floods in early 2009 found that almost a quarter of front gardens in the North East are now completely paved, and that almost half are more than 75% covered with impermeable materials. A report from Defra on Urban Flood Risk and Integrated Drainage was published on June 24 2008, and among other things underlined the benefits of partnerships and modelling to predict vulnerable areas. Strangely and significantly, no part of Cumbria was included in the 15 specific areas it covered with the Pilot Studies. Of course, areas in Wales are not included in these studies.
* Working together in partnerships has enabled stakeholders to share information, develop a collective understanding of flood mechanisms and risks, and learn about each other’s roles, responsibilities and funding arrangements.
* A variety of modelling tools can be successfully applied to calculate surface water flood risk. One pilot estimates an increase in flood volumes of 75% by the 2080s due to climate change and urbanisation.
* Modelling and mapping surface water flood risks can inform planning departments in local authorities when they allocate land for housing development. It can also inform emergency planners identifying safe havens and transport routes for use in extreme weather.
* Options developed through an integrated approach can be more effective and cost beneficial than ones developed by stakeholders acting individually.
* For new developments, drainage strategies can be produced which safeguard downstream areas, protect the development and are adaptable to climate change.
However some challenges have also been identified:
* Data and models are sometimes poor, not available or not fit for purpose. Using these data and models can result in incomplete or misleading flood risk assessments.
* Pilot projects trialled a variety of techniques for flood risk assessment but new guidance is required to indicate an approach which is appropriate in detail, cost and accuracy for a range of situations. A risk based approach is required to target detailed modelling where it is required. More simplified approaches can be applied elsewhere.
* Current institutional arrangements and responsibilities can make it very difficult to coordinate and fund an integrated series of cross stakeholder improvements.
* Many surface water flood risk problems are endemic to urban areas and may only be resolvable through the re-development of town centres and housing so that space can be made for water. The benefits of an integrated approach may therefore take many years to be realised.
* The skills required to carry out IUDM are in short supply, especially in local authorities who have a key role to play. Efforts are required to build capacity in urban drainage knowledge within local authorities and the Environment Agency.
The Urban Flood Risk and Integrated Drainage says these key messages will be developed further "as we pull together guidance on surface water drainage for all relevant stakeholders in the Autumn. This will be an important tool to help local authorities in high risk areas to prepare Surface Water Management Plans."
There are many other studies in progress. The Flood Risk Management Research Consortium (FRMRC) is carrying out multi-disciplinary research to predict and manage the risk of flooding in the UK. Imperial College is working on Research Priority Area (RPA) 2 - Land Use Management. Professor Howard Wheater is leading a team working with Welsh farmers to look at how the use of upland can be changed to increase the amount of excess rain it can absorb, so that flooding of lowland areas along the Severn is minimised.
RPA 2 seeks to address: Whether agricultural land use and land management have increased flood risk?
This is led by Professor Howard Wheater, Professor of Hydrology and Director of Imperial College Environment Forum. His research interests include Flood Hydrology, Water Resources, Water Quality and Waste Management. He is a member of the EA/DEFRA Flood and Coastal Defence Broad Scale Modelling TAG, the ICE Reservoir Safety Working Group, and various NERC committees, and leads the Land Use Management Priority Area for the FRMRC; other current flood research includes a major DEFRA-funded programme of stochastic spatial-temporal rainfall modelling to support continuous simulation methods for flood estimation. His work on surface and subsurface water quality includes research into nutrient management under the LOCAR programme and into radionuclide transport in the context of radioactive waste management.
Amid this welter of paper, professors and research grants and funding, there appears to have been little or no progress in making any positive action. So there is still massive flooding when it rains hard.
Practical Farm Ideas calls for action
With farming readers across the country, some in vulnerable areas, we are aware of the concerns, and equally aware that the paperwork appears to be taking for ever. Not surprising. The acedemic world works in three year cycles - the minimum time taken for a graduate to gain a doctorate. Perhaps someone might ask - "How much of this science is actually necessary?" Rain falls, and either soaks into the ground or runs off the surface.
Where does rain fall? Look out of an aeroplane window when flying across most of Britain and you see green fields, woods and heathland below. This is where the majority of rain falls. Paved-over front gardens can't be seen. Grassland makes up a lot of the land which feeds into rivers, and arable land predominates in the valleys where the soil is deeper and the land flatter. The EasyJet survey shows the significance of this grassland in terms of collecting rainwater. A relatively small change in the porosity of this huge area of land would have a major impact on the quantity of water flowing downstream in the hours and days immediately following a rain storm. Grassland becomes less porous when the surface is pressed down by machinery, animals and manure, and over the past few decades all these things have happened. Tractors and farm machinery have increased many times in size and weight. Cattle and sheep have also become heavier.
To us it seems quite obvious that if grassland were to be made more porous, an increasing quantity of rain water would remain in the field and not get into the ditch, the brook, the tributary and the river. Grass aerating, as shown in the Farm IDEAS newsletter of 2007
http://www.farmideas.co.uk/newsdetailed.php?id=45
provides easy, low tech, low cost action which needs no major study, committee. It needs farmers with some simple machinery, not, with respect, professors.
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