3.3.16

River Management

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What Affects the Risk of Flooding?

When the amount of water in a river is greater than the river's capacity, flooding will happen. Increasing river level is caused by increasing river discharge. There are human and physical factors that can increase discharge, and therefore cause flooding:

Precipitation

Precipitation

  • Heavy rainfall causes high runoff because the water arrives so quickly that there isn't enough time for it to infiltrate the soil.
  • Prolonged rainfall makes the soil become saturated, and so any more rainfall will run off instead of infiltrating.
Geology

Geology

  • Runoff is higher in areas that are mainly made up of impermeable soil (e.g. clay) or impermeable rock (e.g. granite).
Relief

Relief

  • Rainfall will reach the river channel quicker in a steep-sided valley.
Land use

Land use

  • Buildings and roads are usually made of impermeable materials. More impermeable surfaces mean more runoff and more discharge.
  • Trees intercept water and store water that they take up from the ground. Removing trees will, therefore, increase flooding risk as more water will be finding its way into the river channel.
Jump to other topics
1

The Challenge of Natural Hazards

1.1

Natural Hazards

1.2

Tectonic Hazards

1.3

Weather Hazards

1.4

Climate Change

2

The Living World

2.1

Ecosystems

2.2

Tropical Rainforests

2.3

Hot Deserts

2.4

Tundra & Polar Environments

3

Physical Landscapes in the UK

3.1

The UK Physical Landscape

3.2

Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.3

River Landscapes in the UK

3.4

Glacial Landscapes in the UK

4

Urban Issues & Challenges

5

The Changing Economic World

5.1

The Changing Economic World

5.2

Economic Development in the UK

6

The Challenge of Resource Management

6.1

Resource Management

6.2

Food

6.3

Water

6.4

Energy

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