Catchment Based Approach (CaBA): resources and links

Introduction

The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) and Rivers Trust host some excellent resources to support river and catchment studies providing research papers on a range of interesting topics. These may be useful in supporting the study of rivers at GCSE, water cycle/river catchments at A level and fluvial studies at university.

Here is a selection:

Trout in the town – an urban river toolkit

The Urban River Toolkit was written by Wild Trout Trust experts Theo Pike and Dr Paul Gaskell, with funding from the Environment Agency. The new Urban River Toolkit contains 98 pages of practical advice for local people who want to help their river to recover from centuries of abuse (or simply being overlooked and under-appreciated in recent years), including:

• Understanding urban rivers and their surroundings
• Organising river cleanups and other events
• Inspiring and motivating volunteers
• Funding and fundraising
• Practical aspects of running an urban river group
• Exciting project ideas
• Case studies from successful Trout in the Town groups
• Getting your group accredited as an official Trout in the Town chapter
• And much, much more…

In short, it’s full of inspiring, empowering advice for anyone who wants to start taking care of their local urban waterway.

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/trout-in-the-town-urban-river-toolkit/

Animations to explain natural capital

Three animations, funded by the Interreg North Sea Region WaterCoG project, have been created by The Rivers Trust to visually introduce natural capital and ecosystem services in three films.

The natural environment is being degraded and we are beginning to realise that protecting and enhancing our ecosystems is essential, if we are to continue benefiting from all the things the natural environment provides us with.

An excellent introduction to natural capital can be found at https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/natural-capital-for-catchment-partnerships-2/ .

These three animations hope to break down barriers to generate a more shared understanding of the terms ‘Natural Capital’ and ‘Ecosystem Services’ and how they can be applied to real-world examples.

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/animations-to-explain-natural-capital/

Outfall safari – measuring urban pollution

One of the major threats to water quality in urban rivers is misconnected pipes. These send pollution into rivers via the surface water drainage system and compromise the biodiversity and amenity value of our waterways.

In partnership with Thames Water, the Environment Agency (EA), fellow NGO’s and communities in Greater London, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has developed an innovative, citizen science method for locating, assessing the impact of, and reporting on these polluting pipes. This method is known as the Outfall Safari.

Guidance, technical manuals, templates and examples of how to setup and run an Outfall Safari to get local volunteers involved in surveying sources of urban pollution. Find out more by clicking the link below where you will find additional resources and case studies.

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/outfall-safari-guide/

Managing wetlands using beavers

Beavers create complex wetland mosaics, creating ponds, canals, mires and braided streams, and coppicing trees like willow as aspen to maintain open grassland habitats within the mosaic.  Their wetlands store water in headwaters reducing flooding and ameliorating the impacts of droughts, and trapping pollutants.

This vegetarian animal coppices trees to regenerate fresh young shoots, and grazes grasses and other bankside vegetation.  Beavers feel safe in water and create canals and ponds to expand, explore and exploit the riparian corridor.

In headwaters, they build leaky dams to create open water where little exists. As well as providing extensive habitats for wetland species, the dams trickle water into the headwaters providing healthy base-flows and reducing flooding.

Further downstream they coppice riverside trees, bringing light to more shaded areas and creating habitats for invertebrates and fish. Currently, the use of beavers is restricted to a limited number of fenced sites. However, DWT has submitted an application to monitor the impacts of the animals living wild on the River Otter.

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/managing-wetlands-using-beavers/

Upstream thinking

Upstream thinking is an initiative which looks at how land is managed to protect our rivers. By working with landowners, we can make changes to how land is managed to keep unwanted things out of rivers.

Upstream Thinking is a partnership of South West Water, the Devon Wildlife Trust, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Westcountry Rivers Trust and the Exmoor National Park Authority, who are working together to build change land management to protect rivers.

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/upstream-thinking/

Engagement tools for natural flood management

CaBA Partnerships and partner organisations are developing and using a range of exciting, interactive models to engage communities and help them explore how natural flood management works.

Take a look at the videos – some really innovative and inspiring ideas!

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/engagement-tools-for-natural-flood-management/

Guide to flood safety and resilience

Flood insurance is one approach to increasing homeowner resilience to flood events. The insurance industry publishes insightful advice to help people prepare and respond to the threat of flooding.

Click the link below to access a well structured and clearly written overview providing a summary of the main issues.

The article contains a number of excellent links particularly to the Flood Re scheme, a joint initiative between the Government and insurers. Its aim is to make the flood cover part of household insurance policies more affordable.

https://www.comparethemarket.com/home-insurance/content/flood-safety/ 

GoCompare has a flood risk home insurance document which students might find useful at https://www.gocompare.com/home-insurance/flooding-and-home-insurance/.

What is natural flood management?

Healthy river catchments store water in the landscape and slow the flow of water downstream.

Our modern river landscape is very different from what nature intended. We have lost water storage in wetlands, created hard surfaces that water rushes off, and changed our river channels so they move water very quickly. Our rivers are less able to cope with the rain we expect in the future, making flooding more likely to impact communities.

This excellent introduction includes an animated video.

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/what-is-natural-flood-management/

River Wiki

The River Wiki has been set up by the River Restoration Centre to consolidate river restoration case studies from all over Europe. Currently, there are 819 case studies from 31 countries published on the website.

You can search through the case studies using a number of different variables depending on the type of project you are looking for.

You can also search by cost, techniques used, reasons for failures as well as geographically.
This project aims to showcase completed restoration projects as well as to act as a tool to guide future projects. Its wiki format allows any registered user to upload their own projects and comment on other projects.

It is hoped that by allowing this transparency, fresh ideas will emerge and benefit rivers worldwide.
This project was created by the RESTORE partnership for river restoration in Europe and funded by the European Commission’s Life+ programme.

https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/learn/river-wiki/