The need to adapt to increased flood risk prompted over 90 people to gather at a recent conference on 12-13 October 2010 organised by the UK's national Association of Rivers Trusts.

Entitled "Adaptive Land use for Flood Alleviation:  implications and opportunities for river managers", the event was held on the banks of the River Eden in Appleby, and hosted by Eden Rivers Trust in partnership with the ALFA Project.  Delegates and speakers from all over the UK, including rivers trusts, government agencies, consultants, private water companies, scientists, and NGO's were joined for the two day event by ALFA project partners from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The ALFA project was showcased at the event and included the presentation of innovative research recently completed by scientists at Durham University as part of the project. This has shown that rural land use could have an effect on catchment scale flood risk, even for extreme flood events such as those experienced in Carlisle, UK, in January 2005, if carried out in the right locations.

Conference Programme and downloads

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Conference programme here 

Introductory talks

The ALFA (Adaptive Land use for Flood Alleviation) Project – Lucy Dugdale, Scientific Officer, Eden Rivers Trust
The Dutch programme Room for the River and ALFA: How a national programme can profit from the regional experience of its neighbours - Ingwer de Boer, General Director, Rijkswaterstaat, Programme Directorate Room for the River

Accept – Implications of flooding and climate change for river managers

Linking floods and wetland ecosystems – Professor Mike Acreman, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Balancing nature, agriculture and flooding: Experiences from the Tweed catchment - Luke Comins, Director, Tweed Forum
The 4-A approach to sustainable flood risk management: The FloodResilienCity Project - Annelies Haesevoets, Project Manager, VMM (Flemish Environment Agency)

Adaptation - Tools & approaches for identifying & achieving adaptation measures

Can rural land management be used to reduce flood risk?  Stuart Lane, Executive Director Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Durham University
The Eden Flows Project - Rural land management impacts on catchment scale flood risk – Ian Pattison, Research Fellow Southampton University
Flood Risk Management in the Eden catchment – Glyn Vaughan, Area Flood and Coastal Risk Manager, Environment Agency
Sediment Matters for Integrated Flood Risk Management – Jo Shanahan, Senior Geomorphologist, Atkins Limited
Geomorphological tools for Rivers Trusts – understanding geomorphological processes in your catchment – Malcolm Newson, Director, Tyne Rivers Trust 

Alleviation – Practical solutions and best practice case studies

The Ripon Multi-Objective Project; slowing the flow through land management - David Higgins, Project Officer, Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust
The Mayes Brook Restoration Project; urban natural flood management – Chris Poupard, Trustee, Thames Rivers Restoration Trust
Catchment engineering and runoff management for flooding and pollution control - Paul Quinn, Senior Lecturer in Catchment Hydrology, Newcastle University
Practical methods for floodplain reconnection – Alistair Maltby, Director North, Association of Rivers Trusts
Ecosystem services & how to fund this work: Experience from the Westcountry - Dylan Bright, Director, Westcountry Rivers Trust & Martin Ross, Environmental Manager, South West Water 

Field Notes

Summary 

The ALFA Project The ALFA (Adaptive Land use for Flood Alleviation) project aims to protect people in North West Europe against the risk of flooding due to climate change by creating new capacity for water storage within river catchments. The project is split into three main areas: 

1.       Developing new techniques for storing water in river catchments and scientifically examining where best to target water storage measures

2.       Public involvement and increasing catchment solidarity

3.       Developing flood alleviation schemes which also deliver multiple benefits, for example, for the economy, environment and recreation 

Funded by the European Union’s Interreg IVB Programme the project involves partners from six different river catchments across North West Europe including the River Eden in Cumbria, the River Seine in France, the Rivers Rhine and Emscher in Germany, the Kleine Nete in Belgium and the River Meuse in The Netherlands. 

In the Eden we have been working closely with scientists from Durham University for the past four years. They have been developing innovative ways of investigating whether and where in a river catchment measures such as woodland planting, re-meandering of river channels, putting woody material back into rivers and reducing soil compaction could help reduce downstream flood risk. The results of their research in the River Eden catchment will be presented at the ART Autumn Seminar.   

In the Eden catchment the ALFA project is a partnership between Eden Rivers Trust, the Environment Agency, Durham University and the Association of Rivers Trusts. United Utilities, Natural England, Lake District National Park and the RSPB are also working with us. More information about the ALFA project can be found at www.alfa-project.eu.