River Yealm - lives in danger

longjohnsilver

longjohnsilver

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A severe flood warning has been issued for part of south-west England, as river levels rise after heavy rain.

The Environment Agency said lives were in danger by the River Yealm in South Hams, Devon from Cornwood to Yealmpton.

The above is a direct quote from the BBC website, it's been a pretty wild night here in Devon and it's still raining. Gusts of 40 odd knots in the Dart, certainly rough very early hours of this morning. I see both Torbay and Exmouth lifeboats have been out already, hopefully nothing too serious going on. Stay safe.
 
Sitting in house 80' above Yealm estuary, its ok here, just VERY brown! Problems are upstream where the river comes off Dartmoor and is normally in quite a small channel. No problem for people in boats, come to think of it its probably where its best to be!

All exacerbated by quick run-off which no one ever mentions.......man made structures, buildings, roads ,car parks, superstores all pour water into the drains and then into our rivers. Drains here can t cope, in the last 3 weeks sewage has been pouring out of man hole covers into the river, lovely.

Bring back soak-aways......rain from all our roofs and maybe roads needs to go into the soil to refill the aquifers. I don t believe in man-made global warming but we do interfere with the water cycle at our peril!
 
Ional said:
All exacerbated by quick run-off which no one ever mentions.......man made structures, buildings, roads ,car parks, superstores all pour water into the drains and then into our rivers. Drains here can t cope, in the last 3 weeks sewage has been pouring out of man hole covers into the river, lovely.

Bring back soak-aways......rain from all our roofs and maybe roads needs to go into the soil to refill the aquifers. I don t believe in man-made global warming but we do interfere with the water cycle at our peril!
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Not to mention the popular and, IMO, selfish habit of people covering their front gardens with either block paving or concrete to park their multiple cars without giving thought to proper drainage! :mad:
 
Giblets said:
Not to mention the popular and, IMO, selfish habit of people covering their front gardens with either block paving or concrete to park their multiple cars without giving thought to proper drainage! :mad:
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Needs planning permission now (possibly only in certain areas?), for that very reason; you need to show that proper arrangements for the runoff water have been made.

Pete
 
prv said:
Needs planning permission now (possibly only in certain areas?), for that very reason; you need to show that proper arrangements for the runoff water have been made.
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Very true, Pete, but, as usual a phrase containing the words "stable" & "door" springs to mind. :rolleyes:
 
theoldplucker said:
With yellow lines going down everywhere & car park charges too high people have to create on their own land sometimes.
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Again very true but there are many ways of making a water permeable hard standing surface. Sadly these are usually more expensive that good old hardcore and concrete.
 
River Yealm

Sitting in another house 30m above the estuary, and the water is starting to return to its natural colour. Yesterday it was like a brown soup, and there was run off on all the roads around the village of Noss Mayo (where we are), and which still persists today. Water was coming out of most of the manhole covers - see photo. This was taken last night while on our way to the RNLI knees up at the YYC. Excellent night (from what I can remember)

Cheers,

Michael
 
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theoldplucker said:
With yellow lines going down everywhere & car park charges too high people have to create on their own land sometimes.
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Tha's better than parking half on the road and half on the pavement which is what they do in the chavvy estate near us. Barratt boxes with the one garage converted into another room and three cars parked out on the road / pavement.

If you cant afford a house with sufficient parking space you shouldnt be allowed to have the cars IMO.:)
 
I too have noticed this trend to pave or hard surface everything. When I was in Berlin in 1980 I noticed something quite interesting that may be a solution. In front of the Reichstag Building was a small car park with a large field next to it. This field however was suitable for overflow parking. They accomplished this by turning something similar but smaller to cinder blocks sideways. This allowed grass to grow and water to drain into the ground yet provided sufficient support when raining to prevent tyres from tearing up the ground and getting stuck.

I'm sure that it is not suitable in all places but a great idea for many places. In particular, I think it would be good for shopping plazas and malls. When I have the misfortune to go by one I see the car parks are rarely filled more than fifty percent and usually less than a third full. They are only filled to capacity a few days a year such as around Christmas shopping times and other select days.
 
Giblets said:
Again very true but there are many ways of making a water permeable hard standing surface. Sadly these are usually more expensive that good old hardcore and concrete.
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So what's wrong with gravel?

Or even leaving area in the impermeable area for water to penetrate and soak away.

I know that impermeable surfaces are being blamed as contributing to flash floods but does it also lead to less water making it to groundwater and hosepipe bans??
 
jac said:
So what's wrong with gravel?
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Nothing wrong with gravel providing it is laid on a suitable sub-base which doesn't include fines (i.e sand) which compact down to form an impermeable layer.

Or even leaving area in the impermeable area for water to penetrate and soak away.
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Yep, good thinking.

I know that impermeable surfaces are being blamed as contributing to flash floods but does it also lead to less water making it to groundwater and hosepipe bans??
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I believe those are the two major problems. If the water cannot soak into the ground the water table drops and the aquifers are depleted.
 
jac said:
So what's wrong with gravel?

Or even leaving area in the impermeable area for water to penetrate and soak away.

I know that impermeable surfaces are being blamed as contributing to flash floods but does it also lead to less water making it to groundwater and hosepipe bans??
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I think gravel is a good solution in many cases and looks better than most pavement or concrete. For those who don't like gravel they can use cinder block type blocks turned sideways. This will give the look of grass by allowing it to grow through the block yet provide a supporting surface for tyres.
 
SailingNewYorkCity said:
I think gravel is a good solution in many cases and looks better than most pavement or concrete. For those who don't like gravel they can use cinder block type blocks turned sideways. This will give the look of grass by allowing it to grow through the block yet provide a supporting surface for tyres.
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Commonly known as "Grasscrete". Trouble is the grass needs cutting and folk can't be doing with that sort of hassle nowadays.:rolleyes:
 
Giblets said:
Commonly known as "Grasscrete". Trouble is the grass needs cutting and folk can't be doing with that sort of hassle nowadays.:rolleyes:
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The latest buzzword is SUDS. Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems.
But somehow I don't think there are many superstores or large paved areas on Dartmoor.
 
Giblets said:
Again very true but there are many ways of making a water permeable hard standing surface. Sadly these are usually more expensive that good old hardcore and concrete.
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No its cheaper than you would think, I laid my car park area by levelling the ground and compacting , after laying a weed restricting membrane , 4"depth of Type one mot was laid ( came in a truck £150 for 3cu. mtr. ) Very easy material to handle it does not really set until compacted, I hired a compactor.The area has to be contained to stop material spreading, I used old oak timber boards pegged with stakes but you can buy concrete kerbing.
Lightly cover the surface with your choice of stones or gravel and you have a solid natural looking surface that will absorb water.
Sorry its not a yachty subject but environmental issues should always be game for comment.
 
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