River case studies

Página 1

The river Nile

Background info:

Africa

Almost 7 000 km long

150 km long delta

Flows through Egypt

Opportunities for people living close to it:

270 ships cruising Luxor - Aswan --> tourists + locals get jobs

Farming: fodder crops for cattle, wheat, rice, date palms --> irrigation

Domestic use: washing, cleaning, drinking (most of Egypt's population lives near the river Nile) (95% live along nile)

Página 2

Boscastle

Background info:

Small town on the north coast of Cornwall

South West England

90% of economy reliant on tourism

Flooding on 16th August 2004

Causes of flooding:

200 mm of rainfall fell over one day

1 in 400 years flood

Month's worth of rain in 2 hours

Ground already saturated from previous rainfall (Hurricane Alex)

Impacts of river flooding:

Short term effects:

115 cars swept by river

Many buildings destroyed (including visitors center)

No deaths or injuries

80 properties damaged

Long-term effects:

25 illion pounds lost in income

20 B&Bs closed

Residents homeless

Rebuilding took 6 months

Risk of contamination from sewage

Reducing future risk of flooding:

Hard engineering:

straightening channel

channel deepened by 2 meters

new 400 000 pounds bridge is thinner and lighter (greater drainage space)

200 meters of river embankments strengthened with gabions

Soft engineering:

Planted vegetation

Afforestation on the upper catchment slopes

Land zoning