‘Soft Engineering Is a Better River Flood Management Scheme Than Hard Engineering, ’ Discuss This View

535 Words3 Pages
‘Soft engineering is a better river flood management scheme than hard engineering,’ Discuss this view Soft engineering works with natural processes, it works with the environment and is often sustainable whereas hard engineering works against natural processes – controlling the environment. An example of soft engineering is naturalisation which is an attempt to alter natural geometry of a watercourse. For example planting trees – trees are planted near a river this means there Is greater interception of rainwater and a lower river discharge. An example of where naturalisation has occurred in the River Rhine where they are dredging clay out of flood plains creating a natural flood plain. An example of hard engineering is river straightening, this works by creating a smoother channel for faster flow to get water out of an area as quickly as possible. An example of where this has happened is on the Mississippi and the river was shortened by 150 km, however this does create problems further downstream. There are a number of benefits to soft engineering firstly soft engineering tends to be a lot cheaper, it cost less money to maintain than hard engineering and hard engineering is expensive and disrupts natural processes. For example afforestration and planning are very quick methods compared to hard-engineering methods Soft engineering is also a more sustainable management strategy than hard engineering because it has a lower economic cost and environmental impact. It is designed to work with natural environments’ and creates wetlands which are important for natural habitat. Unlike hard engineering which can sometimes destroy natural habitats. On the other hand there are many disadvantages of soft-engineering as a method for controlling flooding as methods may not be as effective as hard-engineering methods. For example afforestration may absorb some

More about ‘Soft Engineering Is a Better River Flood Management Scheme Than Hard Engineering, ’ Discuss This View

Open Document