The Contributory Causes of Floods and Effectiveness of Environmental Management Systems - Case Study Example

Environmental management Student Name Course Tutor Date Table of Contents Environmental management 3 Introduction 3 The contributory causes of floods 3 The immediate impact and significant risks caused by the flooding 5 Responsibilities and roles of Agencies involved during the occurrence of the event and the recovery phase. 6 Effectiveness of environmental management systems 8 The lessons learnt 8 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 9 Works cited. 10 Environmental management Introduction Surveying an environment to identify the resources in it and the best ways of maintaining them is the most essential way of properly managing the environment. This makes it possible to identify the potential causes of risks hence identify ways of controlling the dangers. The effects that the occurrence of any risk is likely to have on the affected environment are likely to be reduced if the risks are prevented from happening. Formation of the risk managing organizations such as fire and rescue services is the best way of controlling or preventing the occurrences of risks (Environmental Agency, 3-5). In June 2007, Sheffield experienced two long spells of rainfall causing very severe floods which damaged many properties and caused evacuation of properties resulting to significant financial losses and environmental damage. The risk occurred as a result of improper management of the environment. The contributory causes of floods There are various aspects which can be looked at as causes of the floods in Sheffield. The climate situations are among some of the contributing factors. Before the month of June there was a long spell of rain which left the ground so wet, so when the rain began again the ground cold not hold any more water hence it had to remain stagnant on the surface. The wet weather also increased the amount of water humidity hence too little could be absorbed to the atmosphere. Advancement in the activities of the residents also highly contributed to occurrence of this risk, people have really changed their way of doing things in the name of cultural or economic activities. Although these activities are beneficial to the individual life, they are environmental hazards. For example, there are many trees across and around the city preserved to break the speed of the wind and hold the soil particles together. However, with the increased population and diversity of activities trees so much deforestation taking place as they extract timber for domestic and commercial purpose that is putting up residential and commercial buildings. Therefore soil particles are easily blown by the wind or drained by rain water to the water bodies like rivers and dams. This raises the water level hence the volume of water which they can hold is little causing them to easily flood (Ryding, 43-48). Erosion of soil on the river banks weakens them thus when the water increases they are likely to burst and the water floods around. Sheffield city is an island between networks of rivers, when these rivers overflows their water flood across the city sweeping anything it finds. Due to highly increasing population so many buildings have been put up and many more are in the process. This has forced those who have not secured themselves some space to settle along the natural floodplains of the rivers leaving them with no space for their overflow. The excess water is forced to flow through the channels and culverts put across the city and if it is excess it floods all over the place. The reservoirs of these rivers are built upstream the city hence if they overflow the water runs over the city. These reservoirs should be built down the stream so that in case of overflowing the water does not get to the city. There is poor drainage across the city and the domestic drainage like sewage are not well maintained that the rain water does not smoothly flow from the city to the natural drainage systems like rivers and dams. The roofs of the many buildings collect a lot of rain water which remains stagnant or flows slowly from the city grounds (Foster, 34-39). The immediate impact and significant risks caused by the flooding The Sheffield floods in 2007 had severe impacts not only on the properties but also in terms of health of the people and their activities. The spread of the waterborne diseases was too high especially because of the contamination from the poor drainage domestic system like sewages before they are treated and so much stagnant water around the living places resulted to complications such as common cold and so on. Some people were caught unawares that they did not have time to vacate some risky places like old buildings which could not survive in floods. These people were either hurt or killed by the blocks of the collapsing buildings, others for example, the old and the young children were not able to rescue themselves from the floods. The residents of this city suffered financial losses because most of their properties were destroyed or their day to day activities were interrupted. People could not move to their places of work and so many were left homeless. So many suffered psychological problems due to loss of their beloved ones in the strategy or having to live like refugees in their own homeland, many parents lost their children, children were left orphans and others became widows and widowers. The clean water to be used for domestic purpose or for consumption is contaminated especially by the poor drainage from domestic waste like untreated sewages (Brown, 56-67). The aftermath of the flood was a severe famine since the fields did not produce anything and people did not have money to buy enough food hence they relied on donations from the well-wishers. The water swept any crop that was growing in the fields together with the top fertile soil which could be used to grow the crops. The interruption of the transportation affected the production because the farmers could not go to their respective farms hence there were no harvests. The roads and bridges were damaged and left impassable; this means that the residents of the city were to remain grounded unless they use the means of air transport which could not be enough to rescue the lives of all the victims. The rain water destroyed all the build infrastructures which were very expensive to repair. The floods also had some positive effects on the management of the city. The city council formed some organization to manage the risks of the environment. For example, the Environment Agency was formed to carry out the process of risk assessment so as to reduce the occurrence of the risks. This process helps to identify the risk hazards and the possible ways of controlling them using the available resources (Sullivan, 67-72). Responsibilities and roles of Agencies involved during the occurrence of the event and the recovery phase. There are many agencies which came up to rescue people from the floods or to reduce its effects on the environment and others helped to recover the losses which were caused by the floods like putting up new buildings or donating to the helpless. Environmental agency was the leading organization to be formed and its activities reflect those of the local council although theirs were a bit perfected. To manage the floods, the agency formed a good drainage system to drain the flooded water from the city to the natural drainage system like the rivers and lakes. This assisted in the reduction of the amount of water which was stagnant in the area. Other agencies like the sewage authorities were formed to control the internal drainage system. They ensured that all domestic waste is drained under a common system for easier treatment hence reducing the level of contamination and the effects of flood water to the health conditions of the victims. Some people fear draining their wastes to the public sewaging systems due to the expenses they are likely to incur and relaxation of the concern organizations which are supposed to follow them up. The authority formed ensures that all the domestic waste is treated (Rohr, 32-54). A strong organization of meteorologists was formed and highly reinforced with advanced equipments to give reliable information on the weather forecast. This helps to warn the residents in case of weather changes so that they are not caught unawares or to give them a room to prepare to handle any risk. An organization of the land surveyors also came up to survey the area so as to determine the water levels at various points before citing the area to locate the reservoirs or put up infrastructures. Areas whose level is near the surface are prone to flooding compared to other areas because little water is absorbed to the ground causing the excess to flood. These areas should be set aside for forest or trees which absorbs a lot of water to reduce the underground water or for purpose requiring little human attention thus in case of occurrence of any risk few lives are likely to be affected. The life savers organizations were formed to rescue the victims of floods. For example, some non-governmental organizations provided some helicopters to vacate people from the flooded areas and others like the health agencies attended the affected victims by offering the first aid services and treatment to the physically affected. The land drainage system was formed to control the natural drainage system and the artificial one in the city, its main goal was to ensure that all people are evacuated from the floodplain of the rivers so as to give them enough space to overflow or flood without flowing to the residential areas. They also ensure that there is good drainage system across the city to avoid flooding of the excess rain water (Ryding, 25-27). Effectiveness of environmental management systems Although the environmental management system had worked so hard to achieve its objectives especially in the architectural planning of the city, more efforts are needed to make their operations more effective. All control measures should be considered to prevent the occurrence of any risk or minimise the severity of the impacts to the environment. They should be keen on the weather forecast to detect any danger likely to occur and ensure that people are warned against. The lessons learnt From the occurrence of floods in south England, we learn that the severe climatic changes result to common environmental conditions like long term drought, famine and floods. These conditions are very common in this part of the world and their causes are almost similar, for example deforestation is likely to result to insufficient or excess rainfall which causes famine. The weather conditions are so much unpredictable due to changes in the lifestyles of the people hence each flood is expected to result from the unprecedented or the unusual weather conditions. The residents should always expect some environmental risks as a result of the extreme changes in the climatic conditions thus as they carry on their daily activities they should be conscious of the possible risks which are likely to occur. Some of the human activities should be discouraged to reduce the risks they are likely to cause to the environment. Recommendations It is important to maintain the natural conditions of the environment to prevent the occurrence of risks. For example, trees are the most necessary in the society and are not only important to the living things but also to other natural component like rivers and soil. Cutting of trees beside the rivers facilitates to its straightening and increasing the run off speed of the water thus it drains anything found and also weakens the banks causing them to burst in case the volume of water increases, the trees also helps to increase the retention of water in case of floods hence reducing its effects. People should be discouraged from cutting down trees or be encouraged to plant more. The natural drainage systems should not be interfered with for the rain water to freely flow to its destiny. The environmental agency should ensure that all the environmental conditions are controlled and well managed to prevent the occurrence of any risk, for example a good drainage system should be established and maintained to ensure that no water can remain stagnant. The drainage systems for the wastes should be maintained and the concern authorities ensure that the waste is treated to reduce the contamination of the water. The process of risk assessment should be regularly carried out to ensure that measures taken are relevant to the current happenings in the society. This includes the weather forecasts so as to be able to warn people about a risk before it occurs (Environmental Agency, 23-28). Conclusion An effective environmental management practice involves an assessment of the current activities or environmental conditions so as to predict the possible risks and ways of controlling them. The occurrence of the Sheffield floods is considered as a lesson to the other areas especially those with similar conditions, they are trying their level best to prevent the occurrence of such risks. People are being discouraged from carrying on activities which can result to environmental risks or increase the severity of their effects like settling by the river or any other water body. Works cited. Environmental Agency. Environmental protection: Fire and rescue manual.1 (2). Oxford: The Stationery Office, 2008. Ryding, Sven-Olof. Environmental management handbook. Delft : IOS Press,2001. Sullivan, Rory & Wyndham, Hugh. Effective environmental management: principles and case studies Auckland: Allen & Unwin, 2001. Foster, Edgar. Rainfall and runoff. Michigan: Macmillan Co., 2006. Rohr, Ian. Wild weather. Baltimore: Blake Education, 2006. Brown, John. The economic effects of floods: investigations of a stochastic model of rational investment behaviour in the face of floods. 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