Farming changes contributed to UK flooding - report
© 2000 Reuters Limited
November 9, 2000
LONDON - Britain's worst floods in 50 years are not all due to record rainfalls and the effects of global warming, New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
Changes in farming have also contributed to the problem.
Instead of ploughing their fields and leaving them bare in the winter when water collected in the furrows, farmers are using their fields throughout the year and rainwater is not soaked up by the smooth surfaces.
"Now they mostly plant winter cereals, sometimes without ploughing at all," Geoff Mance, the director of water management at Britain's Environment Agency, told the magazine.
"We have a huge acceleration in the speed that rainwater flows into rivers, causing big flood peaks after storms."
According to Mance, studies have shown that the new farming methods have resulted in a 15-20 percent increase in peak river flows.
He is urging the government to invest money in reducing run-off and is insisting that town planners use permeable pavements to soak up water. Mance also wants developers to be responsible for reducing run-off from driveways and car parks.
The deluge that has hit England and Wales in the past two weeks has forced thousands of people to flee their homes, submerged towns and villages and caused chaos on the country's transportation systems.