Manage floods

Flooding incidents are destructive to people, property and wildlife, and they are becoming more and more common.

The causes are numerous: building on floodplains, which decreases the capacity of the land to soak up water; failure to build methods of capturing excess water into land use plans; lack of water drainage solutions in urban areas; and a focus on short-term and expensive measures such as dredging. These solutions have their place but need to be considered together with natural solutions which benefit wildlife and people.

WE’RE WORKING TOWARDS A FUTURE WHERE FLOODING INCIDENTS ARE REDUCED:

• wildlife and people are protected
• water is managed using natural methods, such as via healthy uplands acting as a sponge, and through more water resilient agricultural methods such as planting trees in appropriate places and restoring floodplain meadows
• intertidal habitats are protected and created in the right places to protect against coastal flooding
• there are no further building developments in floodplains
• water-smart principles are used in the design of new houses
• all new developments have sustainable drainage systems to prevent water run-off and which are designed to benefit wildlife and people.
• local authorities retrofit existing developments where appropriate.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Anon.