The Eden Basin/ River Eden

Question 1

Locational Context

Answer 1

> The Eden Drainage basin is in northwest England, between the mountains of the Lake District and the Pennines. The river drains the northeast Lake District fells and the northwest Pennines.

> The river Eden source is in the Pennine hills in south Cumbria. It flows northwest through Appleby-in-Westmorland and Carlisle. Its mouth is in Solway Firth at the Scottish Border.

> The river Basin is largely rural, although the river Eden does flow through the city of Carlisle.

> The upland areas that drain into the river Eden experience extreme weather that can cause flooding downstream- Carlisle is particularly vulnerable as it’s at the confluence of the Eden, Petteril and Caldew rivers, and is fairly low-lying.

Question 2

Changes in the water cycle have affected the risk of flooding:

Answer 2

1) Farming- more intense farming has caused soils to become compacted e.g. by heavy machinery or trampling by livestock. Between 2000 and 2009, there was a 30% increase in the number of cattle in the Eden Valley.

The compaction of soils reduces infiltration, so surface runoff is higher. This means water levels in rivers rise quickly during heavy rainfall increases the risk of flooding.

Grazing in upland areas, e.g. hill farming of sheep, and sheep feeding on grass has reduced the amount of vegetation that can intercept rainfall, resulting in more water reaching rivers.

Construction:

2)
- Although most of the Eden basin is rural, built-up areas have increased. Many new housing estates have been built in and around Carlisle in recent years e.g. the Eden Gate development to the north of the city, and there are plans to develop a huge ‘garden village’ to the south of the city, including up to 10,000 new homes.
Surfaces in built-up areas tend to be impermeable, which reduces the size of infiltration flows and greatly increases the size and speed of surface runoff flows.

3) Deforestation:
- Deforestation has occurred in the basin for thousands of years, e.g., providing timber and land for farming. Much of the original forest cover in the Eden Basin has now been removed, giving way to large areas of open grassland and heathland.

• Trees increase infiltration and decrease runoff, so fewer trees mean more runoff, a flashier flood hydrograph and a greater risk of flooding.

Question 3

Storm Desmond caused severe flooding in the Eden Basin

Answer 3

1) In December 2015, Storm Desmond caused devastating flooding in Cumbria. Some of the worst floodings occurred in the Eden Basin.

2) In some areas of Cumbria, there was record rainfall. In Shap, a small village in the Eden Basin, 262.6mm of rain fell in 48 hours between the 4th and 6th of December. That’s nearly 50 mm more than the average rainfall in the whole of December.

3) Appleby-in-Westmorland and Carlisle were badly affected, 2000 properties were flooded in Carlisle.