Hard vs Soft Engineering Flashcards
What can reduce the risk of flooding and its effects?
Engineering.
What are the 2 types of strategies to deal with flooding?
Hard and soft engineering.
What is hard engineering?
Man-made structures built to control the flow of rivers and reduce flooding.
What is soft engineering?
Schemes set up using knowledge of a river and its processes to reduce the effects of flooding.
Name the 2 hard engineering methods?
Dams and reservoirs.
Channel straightening.
What is a dam?
Huge walls built across a river.
Upper course.
What is a reservoir?
Artificial lake formed behind a dam.
What are the benefits of dams and reservoirs?
Reservoirs store water.
Water in reservoirs used to drink and generate HEP.
Why is it good that reservoirs store water?
During prolonged rain it stores water and reduces risk of flooding.
Disadvantages of dams and reservoirs?
Dams are expensive.
Reservoirs can flood existing settlements.
Eroded material is deposited in reservoir.
Where should eroded material be deposited?
Why?
Along river’s natural course.
Farmland downstream can be less fertile.
What is channel straightening?
River’s course straightened.
What happens to the meanders in channel straightening?
They are cut out by building artificial straight channels.
What are the benefits of channel straightening?
Water moves out of the area quickly as it doesn’t travel as far, this reduces floods.
What are the disadvantages of channel straightening?
Flooding may occur downstream of the straightened channel instead, as the water is carried their faster.
More erosion downstream faster flowing water.
Why is there more erosion down stream?
Water is flowing faster.
Name the 4 methods of soft engineering?
Flood warnings.
Preparation.
Flood plain zoning.
‘Do nothing’.
What are flood warnings?
Environmental agency warns people about possible flooding.
How are flood warnings put across?
Name 4.
TV.
Radio.
Newspaper.
Internet.
What are the benefits of flood warning?
Impact of flood is reduced.
Warnings give people time to love possessions.
Where will people move their possessions to?
Upstairs.
Sandbags in position.
Evacuate.
What are the disadvantages of flood warnings?
Don’t stop flood actually occurring.
Difficult to get insurance.
People may not hear warnings.
What is flood plain zoning?
Restrictions prevent building on parts of a flood plain that are likely to be affected by a flood.
What are the benefits of flood plain zoning?
Risk of flood reduced.
Impact of flood reduced.
Flood plain zoning reduces risk of flood, how?
Impermeable surfaces aren’t created.
During flood plain zoning how is the impact of flooding reduced?
No houses or roads to be damaged.
What are the disadvantages of flood plain zoning?
Expansion of an urban area is limited.
No help in areas that have already been built on.
What is ‘do nothing’?
No money spent on new engineering methods or maintaining existing ones.
What is the concept behind ‘do nothing’?
That flooding is a natural process and people should accept the risks of living in an area that’s likely to flood.
What are the benefits of ‘do nothing’?
The river flood eroded material and its deposited on the flood plain.
MAKING FARMLAND MORE FERTILE.
What are the disadvantages of ‘do nothing’?
The risk of flooding and the impacts aren’t reduced.
Flood cause a lot of damage.
What happens during the process of ‘preparation’?
Buildings are modified to reduce the amount of damage a flood causes.
During preparation what do people do?
Make plans for what to do in a flood.
Keep important documents, items like torches and blankets in a handy place.
What are the benefits of preparation?
Impact of flooding is reduced.
Buildings less damaged and people know what to do when a flood happens.
People less likely to worry.
What are the disadvantages of preparation?
Doesn’t guarantee safety.
False sense of security.
Expensive to modify homes/businesses.
