4 minute read
Narborough
Narborough Bog, England, United Kingdom
Creating a living laboratory for nature-based flood protection. Lying within the floodplain of the River Soar and just upstream of the city of Leicester, the Narborough Bog nature reserve contains the only substantial deposit of peat in Leicestershire. However, the changing hydrology in the area was drying out the peat; and the River Soar, disconnected from its floodplain, contributed to increased flooding in the area. To combat these problems, the Environment Agency, working with the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, the global engineering firm Atkins, and members of the Soar Catchment Partnership, designed and implemented natural flood management techniques to slow and store water within the nature reserve. In keeping with the regular woodland management at the site, in 2019, the project team felled trees to create openings in the woodland canopy and to yield material for the construction of the natural features. They used the wood to block the flow route of floodwaters from the River Soar, holding it in the wet woodland area for longer, and created a wooden bund at the end of an old oxbow lake. The team designed all features to have the maximum ecological benefit and complement and blend into the nature reserve setting.
Article cover: Flooding in 2019 shows how much water the reserve can hold. (Photo by Environment Agency)
Producing Efficiencies
The natural flood management techniques used at the Narborough Bogs project site removed the need for concrete and used locally available natural materials, greatly reducing project cost. Restoring a functioning ecosystem will mitigate flooding recovery costs and will keep the long-term project maintenance costs lower than those of traditional solutions. As one of four sites in the Leicester area using this approach, significant site monitoring is demonstrating how effective the techniques are. This project aims to establish natural flood management as a complementary tool for traditional hard engineering.
Using Natural Processes
Keeping locally sourced deadwood at the site naturally provides invertebrates such as beetles with the habitats they prefer. The felled trees also serve two purposes: creating the barriers to the flow of water and opening up the woodland. Increasing the level of water and light directly benefits wetland plants, which then form the foundation of the entire ecosystem’s recovery. And over time the peat underlying the reserve absorbs the water that would otherwise flood nearby communities, storing carbon and adding resilience to the bog.
Broadening Benefits
While this project helps to reduce downstream flood risk, the restoration also provides additional habitat and resilience to climate change. When rewetted, the peat under the reserve will once again be able to act as a carbon sink. The Narborough Bog serves as a living laboratory, showcasing the myriad benefits of natural flood management schemes. By proving that huge gains in flood risk reduction and habitat restoration are possible with small structures, Narborough Bog is an example for other sites looking to install naturebased features in their rivers, creeks, and streams.
Promoting Collaboration
Stakeholders from all sectors worked together to make the Narborough Bog showcase project a success: public, private, academic, and nonprofit. The project team took advantage of the collaborative relationships already in place through the Soar Catchment Partnership to bring together the team, and they sought out the support from the local council and university to assist with the postconstruction monitoring. Because of this collaboration, the partners the project team involved in the implementation now have the tools to carry out natural flood management projects across the wider catchment.
