Prioritising Dredging is a Danger to Effective Flood Risk Management

With the terrible impacts of flooding still very fresh in the memories of the electorate - being seen to be boldly meeting this challenge by deploying machinery to master nature could be a great way to win votes.

However, the evidence tells us that overall flood risk can be increased by dredging (by passing the problem downstream) and could not have prevented the recent extensive floods that had such terrible impacts.

That is just considering the flood risk angle - the problem with dredging is that it carries a lot of additional, automatic and unavoidable costs that can impact on our environment (which we have plenty of selfish reasons to protect - even if we have no regard for nature for its own sake).

Please consider reading this balanced report from Blueprint for Water: Dredging up Trouble

See also these easily digestible videos on a previous post:

Must-Watch Videos on Floodwater Management

Please don't let us sleepwalk into wasting money on an approach that does nothing to improve (and can actually make worse) the situation for people at risk of being flooded. Let us also not return to procedures that destroy the environment that we depend upon to exist.

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Trout in the Town:

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