Case Study: River Eden Flashcards
What is the Location of the River Eden?
Northwest of the UK and runs by Carlisle and County of Cumbria, 145km long with a source at high seat spring and mouth at Solway Firth
What are the Physical Causes of Flooding in the Eden?
Geology- Lowland areas are sedimentary rocks, Upland areas are igneous rock and impermeable
Gradient- High areas of runoff, drops from 690m to 180m above sea level, steep slopes
Weather- Surrounded by upland areas so gets rainfall that is caught and travels downhill (topographic rainfall)
Drainage Basin Shape- Lots of tributaries meet together at one point, linear drainage basin
What are the Human Causes of Flooding in the Eden?
Housing- New homes built so more flooding downstream (10,000 new homes in Carlisle)
Deforestation- Cutting down trees to make way for farmland, less vegetation, less interpretation
Climate Change- Could receive up to 35% more rainfall by 2080
Farming- Livestock compact the land so less vegetation making infiltration harder for water
What are the Short and Long Term Social Factors?
Short term- 3 people died, 6,000 homes displaced, 70,000 without any power for 3 days and all schools closed for 3 days
Long term- Shortage of rental properties for those who were displaced, worse affected schools were shut for 2 weeks and a year on some flood victims still in temporary accommodation
What are the Short and Long Term Economic Factors?
Short term- 1,600 homes flooded at a cost of £100 million, McVities factory that employed 1,100 people flooded, 70 buses lost £3 million in worth
Long term- Shortage of second hand cars, flood restoration firms drafted into city and many small family businesses go out of business
What are the Short and Long Term Environmental Factors?
Short term- 1,600 homes and 325 businesses flooded, roads and bridges closed for 2 days, 1,150 trees felled by 120mph winds
Long term- still large areas of felled trees, landslide areas have not been fixed or replaced
What are some Flood Management Techniques for the River Eden Basin?
There are multiple flood management techniques they include building 50km of embankments to increase the capacity of the river, 350 hectares of peat restoration to hold water upstream, slow the river flow by creating debris dams and floodplain storage bonds upstream, removal of gravel and debris through dredging,
Overall, these were not effective against Storm Desmond (2015) as it caused flooding for 2,000 homes
How has the £25 million embankment flood defence affected the River Eden Landscape?
£25 million embankment flood defence- This new 3-4 metre flood defence caused the water to flood surrounding urban area, it does give people 24 hours to evacuate but the shear amount of water caused the embankment to fill and flood
How has the Litter at Appleby Horse Fair affected the River Eden Landscape?
With a population of 3,000 every year a horse fair enters town and 40,000 people come. This causes large volumes of litter and the council has to pay £30,000 to remove all the litter
How has the Haweswater Reservoir affected the River Eden Landscape?
The villages of Measand and Mardale Green were flooded by the reservoir, forcing the people to move. It has significantly changed the sheep grazing land to reservoir
How has the Hill Sheep Farming on Wild Boar Fell affected the River Eden Landscape?
Cleared land near the upper Eden River is used for sheep farming, deforestation is needed to gain more fields this reduces interception and creates more surface runoff increasing chances of flooding
How has the Warcop MOD Firing Range affected the River Eden Landscape?
This is a UK military defence training area consisting of 24,000 acres of land. Established in 1942 as a tank gunnery training takes place 7 times a week. Public access is restricted, it adds significant noise pollution within the surrounding ecosystems reducing biodiversity
How has the Land Zoning at Appleby Football Club affected the River Eden Landscape?
Appleby has been affected a number of times by flooding, to reduce damage the area is land zoned and can be designed to store water. The water is held in place by a flood wall and 6 inch flood gates. Its used for football when not flooded
