Flood Risk Soft

• Soft engineering is adapting to a river and learning to live with it. It uses natural ways to reduce the impact of flooding. It is cheaper than hard engineering but often less effective
• Flood plain zoning:

  • Houses and important buildings are built in a way to impact flooding. Usually far away from a river and on elevated altitude
• Flood plain zoning Costs:

  • Habitats are disturbed
  • Difficult to plan to build homes away
• Flood plain zoning benefits:

  • Low cost
• Other 2 soft engineering:

  • Flood warnings and preparation
  • Planting trees
• River restoration:

  When a river that has previously been hard engineered is restored to a natural channel
• River restoration costs:

  • Expensive
  • Possible loss of agricultural land
• River restoration benefits:

  • Aesthetically pleasing
  • Creates new habitats