Flooding Mitigation Work

With an expanding population and continued temperature rise set in stone (Herring and Lindsey, 2022), the UK Government is anticipating an “[inevitable] increase in frequency and severity” of floods (UK Government, 2024, p.14). To withstand these oncoming events, the Scottish Government (2024) aims to achieve flood resilience through 5 key components: Assess, Avoid, Prepare, Respond and Recover. This page will discuss the variety of flood mitigation strategies underway across Scotland, structured around these 5 components. 

Assessing Flood Risk:
The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act was passed in 2009 (The National Archives, 2009). Under the direction of this act, SEPA has been hard at work on a national assessment of flood risk. Their research has been made available to the public through various helpful interactive maps, allowing residents to identify if they are at risk of being flooded. These services include:

•  Flood Maps: https://map.sepa.org.uk/floodmaps
  For the public to assess the risk to their property from river, surface water or coastal flooding. 
• Flood Risk Management Maps: https://map.sepa.org.uk/floodmap/map.htm
  A more detailed flood information service for management authorities. 
• Floodline: https://floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodupdates/
   Live information to alert the public to immediate flood risks. 

Avoiding Flood Risk:
A basic flood prevention solution is avoiding construction on flood prone areas. While the government recognises this, there is no law in place to prevent this practice (Scottish Government, 2020). In fact, the Scottish Government (2014) classes areas of high flooding risk as potentially suitable for residential construction, given certain flood protection measures are implemented. One such measure is the installation of ‘SuDS’ – Sustainable Drainage Systems – which have been a legal requirement in all new developments since 2003 (Susdrain, n.d.). A diagram of such a system is shown in figure 1. 
Recommendations from SEPA and the Environmental Agency exist to discourage building on land that may be at a flood risk. However, with a growing population in need of housing, these recommendations are often not enough to stop projects going ahead. 

Preparing for Floods:
For existing settlements at a high flood risk, the only option is to prepare. A successful way to do this is the construction of flood defences. One recent example from the East Grampian area is the flood defence development in Stonehaven. This project, worth £15,700,000, aims to prevent a repeat of the many catastrophic floods the town has experienced (McLaughlin and Harvey, 2023). It was constructed to account for continued climate change, with contingencies for floods worse than have been experienced before (Aberdeenshire Council, n.d.). 
Within flood defences, natural flood management (NFM) strategies are often incorporated. This involves adding natural features like ponds, meanders, plantlife and natural obstacles, helping to slow and store flow in times of flood (Scottish Government, 2024). Various examples of these techniques can be found around Aberdeenshire, including the re-meandering of Logie Burn (fig. 2), and the restoration of a flood plain in Braemar (NFM Network Scotland, n.d.). 

Respond to and Recover from Floods:
If a flood is inevitable, forewarning for emergency services is essential for reducing risk to the public. For this purpose, SEPA and OS Maps offer the ‘Scottish Flood Forecasting Service’, providing first responders with a heads up if floods are on the way (Scottish Government, 2024). 
For the general public, SEPA’s Floodline can give forewarning of floods, hopefully allowing time to respond. A guide to effectively and safely responding to flooding can be found on the Ready Scotland website: https://ready.scot/respond. Some examples of the advice offered include: 
- turn off electricity, gas, and water.
- store valuables upstairs.
- keep away from floodwater in case of contamination. 
The Scottish Government (2024) explains that the ease and speed of recovery after a flood depends on how effectively it was avoided, prepared for, and responded to. Flooding is now an unavoidable risk in Scotland, so doing all we can to prepare is the only solution. 

To learn more about flooding in Scotland, please see our 'Flooding Trends' and 'Flooding Events' pages.