Awareness of the flood risk management benefit of improved soil management is spreading fast. But as the UK bounces from arguably its most familiar climate-water challenge to drought, should we be thinking far more about healthy soil’s water resources benefits? They could be substantial writes Alastair Chisholm.
At the Flood & Coast 2022 conference recently the then Environment Minister was extolling the virtues of ‘sponge cities’: Blue-green infrastructure woven into the urban fabric to soak up surface water and mitigate flash flooding risk.
Earlier in the year I was lucky to be invited on a trip around the upper Aire catchment above Leeds to view the natural flood management (NFM) components of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme phase 2.
Alongside the truly impressive scale of tree planting the aspect those involved seemed to wax lyrical most about was soil aeration.
This was reversing the decades-long combined effect of millions of tiny sheep hooves and tractor tyres compacting the soil, dramatically improving its infiltration and water storage capacity. Results are speedy and cost-effective as equipment can be shared amongst neighbouring farmers.