Soft engineering solutions to reduce the river flood hazard

Introduction

The Runoff Attenuation Features Guide has best practice recommendations and learning based on delivery of a number of different NFM (Natural Flood Management) techniques including offline and online flow storage, methods to intercept fast flow pathways, large woody debris, riparian zone management and habitat creation.

This guidance provides useful insights into real-world natural flood management (soft engineering) solutions to river flooding. For GCSE students, this guide provides an interesting resource written to provide guidance is for all those working in catchment Management.

Agricultural drainage and land management techniques play a key role in the contribution to the speed and size of flood events as runoff from the land is hugely influenced by farming practices in the catchment.

The guide has been produced from work carried out as part of the Belford Catchment Solutions Project – a partnership project between the Environment Agency, Newcastle University and Local Landowners.

This research has proven that flow intervention structures, both in the watercourse and on the surrounding farmland, can have a significant impact on the flood levels downstream by slowing and storing floodwater.

Click the icon below to download the full report.