I've had this argument with well qualified people several times, it's only when you explain to them that once a sponge is full it cant hold any more water they grasp it, the look on their face when it dawns on them is priceless, then it again dawns on me that these sort of idiots are actually running the countryTrying to get us to “hold water back” or slow it down is all very well on worthless amenity land but makes agriculture as we know it almost impossible. Their plans to spill flow over a wide area to slow it down will also have a limited effect in my view. The town still sits at the neck of a funnel and whether the flow arrives narrow and fast or slow and wide, once the ground is saturated it’s still the same amount of water that has to get through the town. And with all these dams and restrictions, ground will remain saturated for longer and actually have less transient water buffering capacity in my view.
I’d prefer a chain of properly engineered and controlled winter storage reservoirs to take peak winter flows and allow irrigation in the summer but looks like it ain’t going to happen. A return to unproductive swamp and marsh looks more likely.