John
wibbled on Monday 23 November 2009 09:09

Our country seems to rely on structures build by the Victorians - and
earlier. We don't even seem to be able to maintain such structures
properly. Near me are bridges over a railway which in my childhood were
regularly painted - now they are rusting.

River beds need to be dredged under bridges to ensure that a rush of water
can be allowed through without backing up. Also - debris needs clearing
away from river banks before it gets washed down stream to block bridges.

Tell me about it. down here in Robertsbridge, East Sussex, there have been
two major floods in 2000.

So the Environment Agency installed bunds and movable flood gates at
enormous cost.

At the same time, they also dredged all the many streams and ditches in the
area, something that had not been happening regularly.

Oddly enough, they've never had to use the flood gates and I've not yet this
year, despite serious rain, seen any sign of excessive water either on the
fields beyond the bunds or in the streams.

No-one is complaining about having a belt and braces system, but some of us
do wonder if the EA had done their job (dredging and clearing) each year,
then the floods of 2000 may never have happened and they might have saved a
few million on fancy gates.

They seem to take their duty seriously now - EA Landrovers were about last
Friday with blokes clearing the banks of weeds and crap


--
Tim Watts

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