Impact of agricultural soil condition on floods: autumn 2000

This project explored whether farming practices played a part in the 2000 floods by making soils less able to absorb and filter water.

Documents

Impact of agricultural soil condition on floods: autumn 2000 - summary (146KB) PDF

Impact of agricultural soil condition on floods: autumn 2000 - project record (721KB) PDF

Impact of agricultural soil condition on floods: autumn 2000 - technical report (1.6MB) PDF

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Details

Background

The year 2000 was the wettest in Great Britain since records began in the eighteenth century. It has been repeatedly claimed in statements to the media that catchments such as the Severn, Yorkshire Ouse and Medway flooded because they were “saturated” by the first rain storms in October. This meant they were unable to absorb more rainfall.

Some modern farming practices can lead to soil not being able to store or filter as much water, particularly on certain types of soil. These “degraded” soil conditions can reduce the soil’s ability to absorb rain and lead to increased water running off, particularly during storm events. However, there’s not much data available to confirm this possibility.

Approach

This project carried out a targeted survey to investigate a range of soils under different cropping systems in selected areas of the large Severn and Yorkshire Ouse catchments. The study also looked at the smaller catchments of the rivers Uck and Bourne in the south-east of England.

The project started in 2000 and was completed in 2001.

Published 15 February 2021