Analysis of Factors Causing the Floods in Sheffield - Case Study Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Environment management Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction Environmental management is the act of conserving and maintaining all the components of an environment to prevent the occurrence of risks such as floods or fire. The world today is at risk of many environmental hazards as result of changes in climate and the lifestyle of the residents, for example in 2007 a severe flood occurred across the north of England and Sheffield city was most affected as a result of two spells of unexpected heavy rainfall. Contributory factors causing the floods in Sheffield There are many factors and especially as a result of the changes in lifestyle of the people which can affect the environmental conditions. Although there are some natural causing which may result from the geographical location of the land like the underground water level or if the land is wide and flat hence water flows slowly across it and in case the rains are heavy pouring a lot of water, there are high possibilities of floods. The city rests on the eastern flank of the Pennines, within the catchment of river Don and its tributaries, thus it is nestled in a natural confluence of five rivers: Don, Rivelin, Sheaf, Porter and Loxley and amphitheatre of hills which acts as the sources of these rivers. The lowest part of the city is 29 metres high above the sea level at Blackburn meadows. These lower parts are prone to floods or are the most affected because all the rain water from the hills flows down the city with reduced speed and it gets to the flat area hence if the rains are heavy, the area floods (Saul, 2000). The city is located at the point where river Loxley, Don and Sheaf meet and their water reservoirs are located upstream of the city. In mid 2007 when the rainfall was prolonged, the banks of these reservoirs broke releasing the water to flow across the city; the rivers were also overwhelmed flooding the entire place. June was the wettest month in northern England, this reduced the rate of the evaporation process and the level of the underground water was raised near the earth’s service thus the rain water was not absorbed to the ground or vey little was absorbed to the environment so it had nowhere to go but to remain stagnant. These are some of the natural causes of floods but there are some human activities which highly contributed to the severe flooding of the environment (Brown, 2008). The city is highly populated and there are increased social, economic and cultural activities of the residents thus they are forced to utilize the available space. Many homes and business are put up along the natural floodplains thus the rivers are forced to flow along the culverts and channels across the city, when the rains are heavy, the rivers have little space to breathe hence their waters flood across the city. There are many infrastructures built across the cities but with poor drainage systems to drain the water collected by the roofs of these buildings. There should be reservoirs built on the lower part of city and a drainage system made across the city to drain water to these reservoirs. The city has many trees across and around it but according to the recent reports the some of the human activities like construction and timber trade are forcing people to excessively cut down trees without replacing them or which takes time to grow to serve their natural purposes. These trees acts to hold tight the soil particles therefore when they are cut, drained or swept to the rivers and dams raising the water levels hence when the rain falls the water level increases leading to its overflow to the surrounding (Saul, 2000). Immediate impact and significant risks caused by the flooding The severe flood which befell the city of Sheffield in 2007 had overwhelming impacts on people and their activities. The waters flooded most of the properties and left many people homeless and afterwards the area experienced some severe drought and famine. Thousands of residential areas and commercial places were destroyed displacing people and increasing the poverty levels. For example, Hillsborough stadium and Meadow hall shopping centre were completing flooded. Some of the people were caught unawares especially during the nights and were either drowned or hurt by the buildings as they collapse. Thus the floods also hade effects on the health conditions or lives of the people (Jansen, 2007). The floods also destroyed the infrastructures like roads or collapsing the bridges hence affecting the movements of the people. This has effects on the social and economic development of the place because people are not able to carry out communal activities or travel to their places of work. They affect the normal drainage system of the city especially the sewer system or other domestic systems and those from the industries. The spill of sewages and other drainage systems pollute the environment or contaminate the flooded waters and are hazards to the health of people in case these waters come into contact with the bodies. The floods also increased the outbreak and spread of the waterborne diseases like pneumonia, common cold among others. The low lying parts of the city are sites for the metal industries. The acids from the industries and factories can increase the acidic of the water hence increase the solubility of other metals, these includes the metallic boards of vehicles and other infrastructures. The power and communication systems were also affected as the electric and telecommunication poles were destructed. This interfered with the normal functioning during the floods and even after the floods because restructuring of them was difficult. The prolonged flooding leading to loss of live, difficulties in the economic factors and other sort of human suffering resulted to mass migration or population displacement. People moved to the developed urban centers seeking for economic recovery or better places to live an act which highly contributed to overcrowding in the cities. Thus they formed classes of poor people in the cities who live in the marginal areas prone to all sorts of risks like floods. The victims of floods can suffer psychological provides especially if the effects were very severe like loss of their beloved, displacement from the homes or loss of properties. This is because of the difficulties of recovering these losses and others like death may not be recovered at all. These floods had effects on the political status as people lost the trust in the governing authorities or the state. The differences in the standards as a result of the effects of floods in various places changed people’s perception towards the government as many blames it for not supporting the economic activities to boost their lives. The government also had difficulties helping people to recover their initial status and giving relief to hunger stricken and the displaced. The response and the role of the agencies involved during the event and the recovery process Initially only the local authorities were responsible for the matters concerning the drainage systems and other issues of environmental management but other agencies have come up, some of which were formed in 2007 to handle the problem of the flood and others were the aftermath of the flood. Although it is difficult to completely prevent the occurrence of the floods these agencies helps to reduce their frequency or their severity in case of a flood. For example the land drainage authority and the highway authority provide the technical and maintenance skills to the general drainage system (Tinsley & Pillai, 2010). Some life savers organizations like Red Cross came up during the period of the floods to rescue people who were victims of the floods and have nothing they can do to rescue themselves. For example if it happens at night while people are indoors. Other bodies came up to donate the basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter. Various organizations under the fire and rescue services did not hesitate, their presence was felt that time and it is up to date. They tried all their level best to rescue the flood victims and the best of it all is to find ways of reducing the occurrences of these risks. These organizations carry out risk assessment program which helps to discover the potential causes of floods or any other risk, the process also enables them to strategies on the ways of controlling the occurrences of these risks considering the hazards. Both the environmental agencies and the local authorities work together to see that the general objectives of the environment are achieved. For example, the local authorities come up with a plan of pitting up or repairing the commercial building but have to consult the environmental agencies to be provided with the architectural design which would increase their resistance from collapsing or improve the drainage system that no water can be stagnant around it. The Land Drainage Authority is responsible for drainage of the main rivers and their tributaries; they also ensure that the city has good drainage system which can help to drain the rain waters to the rivers and other reservoirs and this involves there are proper channels and culverts which can either be underground or beside the buildings but should always be in a position to drain the water (Jansen, 2007). The sewage authority ensures that the public sewage system is well maintained and treated to reduce the contamination of the water. The Yorkshire is the leading organization which offers the sewaging services and the water supply. The environmental agencies also have the land survey officers who help to check on the water levels in areas sited suitable for the reservoirs because if they are located in areas close to the service, the level of water in these storage will be raised and when it rains they will easily overflow causing floods (Adrian, 2000). The effectiveness of environmental management systems The environmental management systems have tried to control the natural environmental aspects to prevent them from causing risks, for example, they have made sure that there are many channels and culverts across the city to drain the waters and there are other management authorities like those of treating the sewages, putting up the reservoirs for conservation of water. This shows that they have carried out an assessment of the environment to determine the factors which can be termed as risk hazards. Planting trees around the city and letting them grow has helped to control the severity of many risks including those of soil erosion. They have realized that the increased rate of deforestation due to the changes in human activities has contributed to the occurrence of the risk of floods. This is as a result of the increased demand of timber and wood for domestic and commercial use hence soil is easily blown or drained and settles at the bottom of the rivers or other water bodies raising the level of water thus a slight increase in volume is likely to cause flooding. The residents have also learnt that the natural floodplains of rivers should be left free for them to have space to overflow and proper drainage system across the city should be maintained so as to ensure that rain water is drained to relevant places like rivers (Hanlon, 2008). Recommendation The environmental agencies should ensure that their assessment is regularly updated to fit the present needs of the society. This is because of the regular changes in the lifestyle of residents hence more risk hazards are coming up, for example, due to the increase in population and the human activities, people are trying to utilize the land to maximum including the natural floodplains of the rivers. This should be discouraged so as to reduce the rate of flooding from the rivers. The reservoirs should be put up downstream the city thus even if they overflow the water will not flow over the city. Their walls should be made strong to hold the pressure of the water in case the volume increases. All commercial and domestic waste should be treated to reduce the contamination of water incase the floods occurs hence minimize the effects to the health of the victims (Adrian, 2000). Conclusion Many parts of the land are prone to the risks of floods because of changes in the lifestyle of people. Some of the human activities are potential causes of floods like deforestation and others which interfere with the natural drainage system. Changes in climate causes changes to extreme weather and severe flooding. The environmental agencies should ensure that all the risks of floods are considered all through their planning and strategizing processes so as to reduce the possibility of the occurrence of floods. Bibliography Hanlon, D., 2008, Fire service manual (vol 2), The stationery office, London. Adrian J., 2000, Floods and flood management, Springer, Chicago. Tinsley, S & Pillai I. 2010, Environmental management systems: understanding organizational drivers and barriers, Earthscan, Michigan. Brown, P., 2008, The economic effects of floods: investigations of a stochastic model of rational investment behavior in the face of floods, Springer-Verlag, California. Jansen B., 2007, Dams and public safety. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Water and Power Resources Service, Michigan. Saul A. J., 2000, Floods and flood management. Volume 15 of Fluid mechanics and its applications, Springer, London. Read More