Sustainable River Management
There is need to promote understanding of concepts relating to sustainable development both with the general public and with the professional community. The pathway for sustainable development and management of flood plains must be achievable (technically, economically, socially and politically). It will require a broad view of the interventions in the river catchment rather than local single-issue design or management. Traditionally planning has been restricted to a select few politicians and professionals but future planning will have to be open with an informed public. There is a different philosophical basis for the provision of structural and non-structural flood defence. Historically man has sought to tame the flood through the construction of embankments and reservoirs to provide security for occupants of the flood plains. However, non-structural measures such as flood plain zoning, development control, infiltration and flood warning recognise that flooding will still occur as part of the natural processes within the river basin. Difficult choices may arise in the management and protection of existing development and infrastructure on the river flood plain where this conflicts with the policy of sustainable flood plain management. In the area of flood management, return period is not a helpful way of communicating risk to the public at large; the use of the human lifetime might provide a more understandable basis of comparison.

River Restoration
Restoration of previously engineered and regulated rivers has been undertaken in many countries and such projects can form part of a sustainable development plan for the river basin. The objectives of river restoration are normally to create a wider diversity of eco-systems by bringing the river into a closer contact with its flood plain. The visual amenity of the watercourse may be improved and its natural function for flood storage and conveyance regained. However, it must be recognised that not all historic interventions in the natural river are reversible, the ecological clock cannot be put back with the river channel. Engineering intervention in a natural or artificial river has a broad and complex range of interacting impacts and these must be considered before restoration is undertaken. The morphodynamics of the river system are important in determining the plan-form, size and gradient of the channel and flood plain system. The sediments, water quality and aquatic ecology are all closely inter-linked and this needs to be represented in any simulation modelling. The habitats on the restored river will evolve in time with the natural succession of species but the original biodiversity of the site may not be regained, much remains to be learned from monitoring pilot schemes.

Final RIBAMOD Event