Flooding

With Global Warming and the ice caps melting, a natural effect can be increased flooding. A bad enough flood may kill hundreds, even thousands, of people and can leave thousands more homeless. Luckily, measures can be taken to minimize the damage of floods.

One way to minimize a flood’s potential harm is with a flood barrier. London has the Thames Flood Barrier, which consists of concrete piers, with ten separate rotating steel floodgates positioned across the Thames River. The Environmental Agency operates the barrier. When it no longer gives the protection needed because of rising water levels, the barrier is raised, and river walls are strengthened. This is important to London, because they are susceptible to floods.

Another way to combat a flood’s potential harm is with floodplains. This is a process (or non-process, if you will) of leaving land uncultivated. Houses in the adjacent land are protected from flooding because it only occurs on the floodplain. Wetlands are a type of floodplain. Think of them as natural sponges that trap floodwater. One advantage to Wetlands is it reduces the cost of flood protection measures such as dams and levees.

If a flood has already occurred, and the dikes are threatened, sandbagging can be implemented. This is simply (easy for me to say) taking bags upon bags of sand (or clay or silt), and use it as a barrier to prevent water from flowing through. It’s almost like a reinforced dike.

How would I use this in my classroom? This sounds like a great opportunity to utilize the E in STEM. To engineer something that can prevent water from ruining something. It would have to come near the end of the school year (once testing is over) and we have extra time on our hands. It would seem like a simple enough idea, but would take a lot of preparation and safety measures. There are a lot of wires and outlets in my room that would have to be covered or removed. Water can get all over the place. In fact, since this would be done at the end of the year, it might be a nice excuse to take the class outside and have them work with the earth. Food for thought as we move forward.

Source: www.lenntech.com