public sector geniuses

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Who cares. They built their homes on flood plains. :LOL:
Even an animal isn't that dumb.
 
It's true. I'm sure the world laughs at us; we're certainly not very good at managing our country, at least in some respects. In a true meritocracy those who make the decisions would be running the country properly. Unfortunately, we live in a bureaucracy in which being a member of the old boy network counts for everything and guarantees your snout a place in the trough.

You're right too, Norcon. I certainly wouldn't buy a house in a flood plane. It's just as stupid as living in an earthquake zone, such as parts of California.
 
Can someone explain why dredging is being touted as a solution?

Obviously if the mouths of the rivers were blocked it would have an effect but isn't it the surface of the rivers which overflow?
How would it be better if the rivers were deeper?

Surely the problem is that the sea level is too high.
 
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What they are saying is that they built their homes on a flood plain that was supposed to have a managed flood prevention scheme including dredging of the rivers to remove water.

Even being there - if perchance someone had the nowse to raise their house and build walls around it in their own flood prevention way I am sure the planners would step in against them.
 
An explanation EFL: the amount of water a river can move is a function of the cross section area of the river and speed of flow. Silt builds up in the bottom of the river and reduces the cross section area, thus reducing the amount of water flow. Dredging the silt reinstates the river capacity. The Somerset levels was a swamp until it was drained by monks at the time of the Vikings and has been kept dry by dredging, initially with shovels, and until the National River Authority was merged with the Environment Agency around 1995ish, dredgers worked continuously to maintain the status quo.
 
Yes, thanks, I can see that is the case but in the pictures I have seen the 'river' is effectively a man-made aqueduct on a higher level than the surrounding land which has been flooded either by the river overflowing or just the amount of rain.

Also, this river does not appear to be flowing at any speed so,presumably, its surface is at sea level - like an estuary.
 
Surely the problem is that the sea level is too high.
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This should help you.

http://www.eureferendum.com/

A number of good posts on there telling you exactly what went wrong, the money quotes being.

An example was given by my Drainage Board source. To dredge a 1.2-mile section of the Parrett, they got a quote of £7,500. For five miles dredging of the same river, the Environment Agency claims it will cost £4 million.
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Baroness Young explained in an interview that creating wildlife habitats could be very expensive, but that by far the cheapest way was simply to allow natural flooding. As she gaily put it: "Just add water". Around this time she was heard to say of the Somerset Levels that she would like to see "a limpet mine attached to every pumping station".
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Just read on the BBC website about the flooding along the Thames in Surrey and Berkshire. What's the betting that this'll be sorted out , way before the flooding elsewhere in the country ??
 
jockscott said:
Just read on the BBC website about the flooding along the Thames in Surrey and Berkshire. What's the betting that this'll be sorted out , way before the flooding elsewhere in the country ??
Click to expand...

Well "technically" the Thames doesn't flow through Surrey ;)
 
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