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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how flood management practitioners rationalise the emergence of sustainable flood management. Key to this analysis are differences rooted in assumptions over what flood management is and should do. Design/methodology/approach – The popularity of natural flood management offers a case with which to explore how a dominant framing persists and how individuals at the government-public interface negotiate different visions of future flood management. The authors draw on the perceptions of flood experts, elucidating a deep hold amongst a professional community “grounded” in science and economics, but also their desire to innovate and become more open to innovative practices. Findings – The authors show how the idea of “sustainable” and “natural” flood management are understood by those doing flood management, which is with reference to pre-existing technical practices. Research limitations/implications – This paper explores the views of expert decision making, which suffers from challenges associated with small sample size. As such, the findings must be tempered, but with recognition for the influence of a small group of individuals who determine the nature of flood management in Scotland. Practical implications – The authors conclude that, in the context of this study, a technical framing persists by predetermining the criteria by which innovative techniques are judged. Originality/value – Broadly, these findings contribute to debates over the evolution of flood management regimes. This recognises the importance of events while also emphasising the preparations that shape the context and norms of the flood management community between events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which documents the temporal and spatial variability of in-cannel sedimentation in the Upper River Wharfe in Yorkshire Dales National Park, England. Based on the data collected through the topological surveys conducted since December 2001, the mean bed level of the river had risen by 0·17 meter. The study also reveals that the rapid levels of aggradation in the river has resulted to increased frequency and duration of overbank flows and floods.

Focuses on hydrologically similar surfaces (HYSS) that have been used to identify catchment areas that have a similar response to rainfall and have been identified at a number of scales. How HYSS have been identified at the subcatchment scale for the Rambla de Nogalte in SE Spain; Areas that were distinguished by using a combination of geology, land use and topography; Comparison of this mapping with discharge estimates made throughout the catchment following a seven-year return interval flood in September 1997; Presentation of a simulation model that has been developed to investigate the way in which the hydrological response of areas within a HYSS respond to changes in source area, gradient, connectivity to the channel, storm size and intensity profile; How this is one of the first studies using a hillslope model to investigate spatial patterns of runoff-response in semi-arid areas and results have implications for scaling up hydrological response, and on how the dynamics of runoff producing areas vary both under changing storm conditions and over time; Results indicating that the nature of stream-slope coupling differs substantively between semi-arid and humid areas.

Abstract: Within-channel alluvial gravel extraction is one of the most important forms of anthropogenically induced morphological change in river channels. In British rivers commercial gravel extraction was widespread between the 1930s and 1960s, and limited gravel extraction operations to reduce flood risk or maintain navigation continue to the present day. Despite this, gravel extraction has received little attention in UK river studies. This paper examines the significance of within-channel gravel extraction, during the period 1945–1960, on the planform of the River Wear in northern England. The study focuses on two 3 km piedmont reaches at Wolsingham and Harperley Park, located at the margin of the upland zone. Examination of detailed archival accounts of the gravel extraction operations, supplemented by the analysis of aerial photographs has enabled the impact of gravel extraction on the channel of the River Wear to be determined. Sediment budget calculations suggest large sediment deficits in both study reaches, however, assessing potential impacts simply in terms of a sediment deficit may be misleading as channel adjustments depend on local factors and a detailed consideration of the reach-scale sediment budget. Differences in the nature of channel adjustments of both reaches were found to be primarily a function of the method of gravel extraction employed. Overall patterns of channel change along the extraction reaches, over the past 150 years, were similar to reaches where gravel extraction was not practiced. This highlights the difficulty of trying to establish the significance of different processes where both local (gravel extraction) and catchment-scale factors (climate and land use) are operating. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]