River Brock, Lancashire Case Study

Question 1

What type of catchment does the River Brock drain?

Answer 1

An entirely rural catchment

Question 2

How long is the River Brock?

Answer 2

17.8km long

Question 3

Whereabouts is the River Brock located?

Answer 3

In the Forest of Bowland

Question 4

Where do the headwaters drain?

Answer 4

In steep millstone grit hills in the north and in carboniferous limestone in the south.

Question 5

What type of material is on the high moors?

Answer 5

Peat

Question 6

What is the lower catchment overlain by?

Answer 6

Boulder clay

Question 7

Is the flow completely natural?

Answer 7

The flow is almost completely natural

Question 8

What do Myerscough Agricultural College have a licence for?

Answer 8

Abstracting a maximum of 45.46m3 daily and 16,529.9m3 annually

Question 9

What does the regime of the river depend upon?

Answer 9

The pattern of rainfall

Question 10

Which year was a particularly wet one?

Answer 10

2012

Question 11

Which month received the most rainfall in 2012? What was the exact number?

Answer 11

December 225mm

Question 12

Which month received the least rainfall in 2012? What was the exact number?

Answer 12

March 31mm

Question 13

How does the rainfall level for Chipping, Lancashire differ between 1995 and 2012?

Answer 13

Almost 2X higher in 2012 than in 1995

In 1995- Jan was the driest month and Nov was the wettest

Question 14

Where was the most severe flooding?

Answer 14

The village of St Michael’s on Wyre

Question 15

When were the severe floods at St Michael’s on Wyre?

Answer 15

October 1980

Question 16

What has been put in place since this flood?

Answer 16

Comprehensive flood protection

Question 17

Where has a flood storage basin been built?

Answer 17

At Catterall to the north of the River Wyre in the area of St Michael’s

Question 18

What is the flood storage basin for?

Answer 18

A one-in-fifty-years flood

Question 19

What is the capacity of the flood storage basin?

Answer 19

1.7million m3 of floodwater

Question 20

What has been raised and strengthened and where?

Answer 20

Embankments in the lowland area close to the River Wyre.

Question 21

What are warnings issued for as a part of the flood protection in St Michael’s?

Answer 21

One-in-five-years floods

Question 22

How many sandbags does the council store?

Answer 22

2000

Question 23

What are given out by the council?

Answer 23

Sandbags

Question 24

Where is there a 1 in 100 years probability of flooding?

Answer 24

In the area of St Michael’s to the south of the River Wyre

Question 25

What does the steep sided nature of the Brock Valley mean?

Answer 25

Flooding is not a problem until the river approaches the confluence with the River Wyre.

Question 26

Why is the confluence with the River Wyre much flatter?

Answer 26

It is a former glacial outwash plain.

Question 27

Why is St Michaels a low priority for the environment agency?

Answer 27

The land use is agricultural