Why straightened rivers worsen floods

[@DWPlanetA]

How well could restoring rivers work where you live?

[@tokslut]

DW: can you please stop pushing "climate change" agenda in every clip you put out? Earth has always changed and will always be changing even after we humans are gone.

[@Nhkg17]

In my town, fortunately, this type of landscape has been preserved along one of the rivers. Although we have more meadows (occasionally flooded) and ponds and less forest. Farmers are used to it and don't grow anything in this area, they just cut the meadows for hay. And people from the city visit this area a lot. Unfortunately, the other river cannot be restored because there are too many human dwellings and businesses right on its banks and its flow is heavily regulated by dams above the city.

[@larsreckert5423]

Moin, ich würde mich über einen Beitrag freuen, der die Küsten behandelt. Bei uns haben wir weniger Flüsse und Bäche. Es sind eher Kanäle und Schlote: Wir pumpen Süßwasser ab. Und schaut man in die Zeitung, leider zu wenig, denn die Schöpfwerke kommen in die Jahre. Bedenkt man allerdings zukünftige Trockenzeiten, wären neue Wege ein spannendes Thema.

[@ronnianabalos4627]

Here in the Philippines especially in metrommanila this might be impossible to implement considering we use and build houses along the rivers 😢, but it maybe possible to implement to areas outside metromanila that contributes large amount of water that goes to the city And I think some flood plains allready outside the city, I see some as we take the North Express way But to be honest most areas in metro Manila was almost all flood plains it's because of pure necessity without proper urban planning, we just reclaim the land over and over and a plan to install strategic flood controls and sewage exist but never gets implemented because of corruption This is why every time mid to heavy rains occur critical roads in Metromannillla gets flooded 😢

[@ronnianabalos4627]

And if you think about that thats a major loss on our countries productivity I watch this video I Think it's also from a German researcher it's about the modern economics theory and its said that when a country experience a Natural disaster that destroys old capiiitall (roads, bridges, factories, etc.) the country will force too build a new one that is much stronger and resistant to disasters But Mann our countries only build new capital like pavemens and roads before the ellection arrives 😂

[@Ant86744]

In the uk we seem to start following this type of concept. Then completely contradict it by building houses on the previous flood plain land

[@KityKatKiller]

We do as well. It's a constant slog in every country. The only benefit we have over the UK is EU environmental laws still standing strong. That's magical.

[@JibHyourinmaru]

same like malaysia. they clear out mangrove area and make concrete river... everyday I passed that area, so depresssing...

[@WhichDoctor1]

it's what happens when you have people who care and understand the situation in government departments trying to do good work, while their bosses would rather get that 2 day a month consultancy job from the housing developer earning them 100k a year

[@darrenellington3315]

Precisely.!!! What ae flood plains for.??? Floods......

[@lokischeissmessiah5749]

@@KityKatKiller you do realise the only country in the EU higher than the UK on the environmental performance index is Denmark right? I know i know, it's important to your narrative to believe everything falls apart the moment the EU is not involved, but the EU does nothing for your environmental performance. Just look how abysmal Germany is. Imagine burning literal lignite and putting millions more tons of aerosols and co2 into the atmosphere than the UK then trying to virtue signal to the country that's literally better than you. Lmao.

[@veggieboyultimate]

The urgency to restore rivers is clear and enormous

[@gregorgombac5302]

And also sadly ignored by most!!

[@xythiera7255]

​@@gregorgombac5302Becouse its realy realy expensive in the first turm without creating any profits

[@Duu2]

I'm so happy to see people who are good at their jobs, from presenters to the experts, even those we do not see; they are talented and hard-working. Thank you

[@DWPlanetA]

Thanks for the feedback. Please go and subscribe to our channel to get more videos weekly! 🌱🌞

[@MrAdamNTProtester]

I entirely concur... & also I would definitely like to mess with that narrator chicks landscape- tho afterwards I would restore it to its original form for sure!

[@brianpesci]

I can remember the army Corps of engineers doing a project in my hometown that completely straightened the creek that used to meander through the the part of the city that was a natural flood plain in the early sixties. i also remember a saying from the old timers, "you don't mess with Mother Nature without paying a price.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Yeah. America’s civil engineers are unfortunately very good at convincing people that something should be built, reasonably good at building it, not so good at cost control, and very bad at *accurately* evaluating whether it should actually be built.

[@KootFloris]

In the Netherlands we had awful floods in the 90's, and created the 'room for rivers' program, which made our country much more beautiful and safer in the process. Just like this video shows, beautiful wild nature is good for us.

[@MarkDDG]

Last year when Germany was struggling with floods along the rivers, in the Netherlands we barely noticed anything. Even though most rivers flow from the Alps (Switzerland and Austria) into Germany and then into the Netherlands. This is because in the Netherlands (for a while now) we have given rivers more space to flow and we created larger floodplains. During the drier seasons it can be used for grazing animals or hiking trails, and in the wetter seasons it is used for water overflow. 11:45 As seen on this map, the Netherlands has no major cities at risk of flooding from rivers that overflow, even though most Dutch cities are located along the rivers and among the lowest lying in Europe.

[@lukasrentz3238]

Back then, a few News Sites already reported something like "What we can, and should, learn from the Netherlands". When i remember correctly, they mentioned, that the Netherlands started to reshape their rivers again after the severe Floods in the 90s.

[@esbrasill]

Netherlands had their fare share of flooding, learned from it and acted upon. Germans are just a tad slower....

[@mffmoniz2948]

In the North of Belgium there are a lot of little forests and open fields used to divert excess water that support a lot of plant and animal life. We can still enjoy these spaces. Occasionally, if you don't bring waterproof boots, you have to turn back and choose a different path but everyone is ok with that.

[@idjles]

Austrian water does not flow to the Netherlands - it flows to the Black Sea or Adriatic Sea.

[@lukasrentz3238]

@@idjles Except Vorarlberg, if we really want to discuss on that Level and not about the Actual Topic of how we can be better prepared against Flooding.

[@julio_hammurabi]

Here in Italy we're so blind. People keep blaming the local administrations for the floods, saying they could've been avoided with better maintenance and river dredging (...) like we used to do. Sure, maintenance helps, but it's clear that there's a bigger problem with how these rivers have been changed over the last 2000 years and where we've built our towns. I am afraid that administrations will begin doing big projects on rivers to please citizens, which will deteriorate riparian ecosystems even more. So much wasted money.

[@fldon2306]

In the USA one of the most visible projects is at the LA River, that “concrete ditch” made famous in the Terminator movie chase, is being “greened” back to a more natural state. Also, the Florida Everglades water flow is being corrected to a more natural flow after many canals were built to drain and control flow at a cost of Billions of dollars…

[@xoigel8106]

@@fldon2306 interesting development, thank you for the info! I think also the movie Drive 2011 had a scene there..? So a cinema landmark is removed...

[@MrToradragon]

I have one question about the LA River, do they actually remove the concrete, at least in part, or do they just create pockets of gravel and soil in the concrete ditch?

[@estebancorral5151]

You are thinking like an Angelino which is not too bright. The LA river was converted to a canal. A natural river must have a meandering route to maximize hydration of a flood plain that percolates through the soil. Next you have come to Florida. The Bahamas have already started to reforest the mangroves which is what Florida should doing. Florida is constantly being assaulted by Hurricanes. The mangroves would buffer the wind velocity,

[@estebancorral5151]

@@MrToradragonIt is a permanent impermeable concrete embankment.

[@MrToradragon]

@@estebancorral5151 So, if I understand it correctly, the ongoing greening initiative is basically only about creating islands of gavel in concrete ditch? Thad does not sound very green nor like restoration.

[@hillvalley6716]

Something similar was done in parts of Australia. They named it natural sequence farming. It kept water in the environment for longer and during droughts the property that this was done on stayed green while neighbouring properties were dried off.

[@theharper1]

My father had a book called "Water for every farm" (I think), which recommended constructing contour ridges across paddocks (I think they were called keylines) which would reduce the speed of the water and direct the runoff into farm dams for storage. This reduced erosion and increased storage. I believe in Natural Sequence farming, they put back plants in gullies to trap the water and also reduce erosion and retain the water in the land rather than it running off.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

@@theharper1 The theories are outlined in Permaculture.

[@Dive1962]

It's been a policy in the Netherlands for years to give rivers more space. In some locations people were given the opportunity to re-locate their homes to outside floodplains. The last problematic flood we had was in the 1990's.

[@falsch4761]

You guys in holland are really good with dam and water. Houses that designed by holland has better water flow therefore less leakage.

[@panstromek]

"Three Men on the Bummel" was making fun of this river straightening practice in 1900. Crazy how long it takes to accept and fix the damage.

[@LiZinana-rt8hu]

In Algeria we have a popular saying about rivers where we say that the river knows its way and will remember it even when it dries up and this is true

[@drmustjab]

Same Saying in Pakistan 🇵🇰

[@bobm3477]

I have 3 rivers in my city, all of the creeks and rivers are free to flow. On hot summer days people take their lawn chairs and sit in the smallest of the 3. The pathways beside each are always being cycled or walked. That brings a great sense of community. The adjacent city has put nearly everything in pipes, a small lake with paved walkway all around, rather urban, not the same. My grandkids were here, they were shocked to see Eagles close up, Herons fish and a Garder snake, things I take for granted. They live only 15 minutes away.

[@keithbuckley1847]

In Southern Indiana, a small dam is being removed from a local river. It has not been needed for over 30 years!

[@mrcool7140]

That's big news Keith! Please keep us posted about what happens in small towns in southern India wherever that is

[@HowellQ]

@@mrcool7140 Indiana, Mr Functionally Illiterate.

[@MicahBaxter]

​@@mrcool7140Indiana

[@camo4351]

Indiana not india you pleb

[@geotropa1043]

There is another, more fundamental lesson behind all of this to learn: Its often better to just sit down under a tree and to enjoy the day relaxing instead of trying to improve nature, for instance by regulating the course of rivers.

[@sirensynapse5603]

Amen. Good thing mother nature always wins in the long run.

[@MrAdamNTProtester]

If you do not work WITH Nature then you work against it & it will inevitably crush you like a bug & afterwards return to it's natural course long after you are feeding the trees- this is bcuz GOD created NATURE and gave you TWO places to LIVE = your body & this earth

[@leclerc3915]

If only Germany had a neighbour that knows how to manage rivers properly 😬

[@knaako9847]

I know……couldn’t stop laughing reading your comment…..😂

[@erikbbrouwer]

Space for the rivers (ruimte voor de rivieren) projects in the Netherlands are a great showcase how important floodplanes are

[@KokkiePiet]

I have lived near the river for much of my life, first on the Gelderland IJssel, and now on the Rhine. Low tide is an interesting phenomenon, suddenly shipwrecks are visible. High tide is also always a spectacle and has my interest. A beautiful natural event. One of the things I love is that when the rivers rise and the floodplains fill up, birds of prey come from far and wide and sit on poles to wait. They also watch the rising water with interest as the moles, rabbits, voles, etc are driven out and are easy prey. Apart from nature and its beauty, I have been interested in rivers and streams since childhood. Building dams in the Juffer Creek near my aunt and uncle's farm, great. Now climate change and lots of rainfall, or little rainfall in the summer is held responsible for high or low water. However, there is more to it, things that amplify these effects. 1. Sealing the surface. By sealing the ground with paving, parking lots, houses, tiles in gardens, the rain does not go into the soil (groundwater), but directly into the sewers and rivers. So when it rains, this causes the level to go up quickly, when it does not rain, it goes down again faster and more. There is less buffering in the groundwater that collects this in the winter and releases it later. 2. Intensive agriculture. Because all fields are intensively cultivated and people want to get back on the land early in the spring with increasingly heavy machinery, the fields are drained. Rain does not stay on the fields, but is drained away, via ditches to the rivers. This causes more extreme high water in winter and low water in summer, because, as in 1, there is no buffering in the groundwater. 3. Straightening streams. In order to make stormwater runoff efficient and fast, many streams and small rivers were also straightened in the 19th but especially in the 20th century. This allows the streams to buffer less water (a short straight stream contains less water than a long winding one) and drains the water faster to the rivers. 4. Straightening the rivers. To facilitate shipping, among other things, the rivers were straightened, the tributaries closed off from the main stream and the floodplains dammed in the process. This allowed ships to become faster and heavier, and many goods to be transported by inland vessels. The downside is that the larger rivers also became shorter and thus buffered less water. The advantage was that there were fewer floods because the rivers stayed within their winter dikes. 5. The clearing of the riparian forests and draining of marshes. In order to use more land as Agricultural land, many river marshes have been drained and ripened, the river pushed back and as a result, the riparian forests have disappeared almost all over Europe, especially Central Europe. A lot of buffer capacity has also disappeared here. All in all, these are reasons why when it rains and snow melts in the Alps the water comes faster and in larger quantities downstream but also when there is no rain the level falls faster. These 5 points are also one of the reasons why groundwater levels are low. The water that falls is retained less and goes more quickly through the rivers to the sea instead of sinking into the ground. This all had its reasons, feeding a growing population and trying to protect people from high water. But it clearly backfired. Blaming high water only on climate change is shortsighted and ignores all the mistakes still being made in policy. I live on sand, and so could connect my HWA to sinkholes buried in the garden. All water coming off the roof goes into the ground, not the sewer. In my municipality, you pay extra in sewer fees for closed surface. More municipalities could do this. Just an example. In the Netherlands, however, the problem is that it is actually at the end of the line, the Rhine and Meuse are already entering the Netherlands with their water far too quickly. The above points are to a lesser extent the cause in the Netherlands, although it also plays out here, but mainly in Germany. What I write here is by no means new, this has been known for decades and so has the problem. When in the 1960s the Arno River burst its banks and Florence suffered enormous damage this was also the cause. The Italians then changed a lot, and throughout the upper Arno you now see many deciduous forests planted after the flood. A year ago there was a big flood in Germany. Politicians put their heads in the sand and said it was because of the sudden rainfall. However, they completely ignore the things I mentioned above, and that villages were built in the river basin, and are now being rebuilt.

[@KootFloris]

In the Netherlands we had awful floods in the 90's, and created the 'room for rivers' program, which made our country much more beautiful and safer in the process. Just like this video shows, beautiful wild nature is good for us. In the Map at 11:35 you see the Netherlands exempt, which is crazy, because the country is basically a floodplain. So the program must have worked very well.

[@Pilu_90]

11:50 that's my town just a year ago 😢...Let's hope this project will inspire more local and more national administrations in restoring the landscape, preventing the material and social damage that floods leave behind

[@zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat6589]

You can adopt a local-based approach: letting & encouraging community groups have a stake in restoring publicly owned floodplains with vegetation projects. Where I live (in Victoria, Australia) Landcare is a community organisation that revegetates river and stream valleys with native vegetation (we have a lot of introduced European species that have turned into weeds) that help regulate the flow of water, and store it for hotter, drier times of the year (which is our major problem). We do have floods, but less often than droughts.

[@richardgaspar4590]

Naturally all my country would be a giant floodplain, now it looks like a desert with straightened rivers confined to concrete riverbeds, historically there were deadly floods here because of the powerful tisza river but the floodplains and nature was also beautiful, there are still giant white poplars and beautiful willows and the sad thing is that these giant forests on the riverbank of the danube and tisza are almost completely gone, i wish they would do something here(Hungary) too to protect nature.

[@andreleao1851]

I am from Rio Grande do Sul and what we passed with the recent floods I never want to see again 😢. We should REALLY (re)think about our natural river courses.

[@sebastianhoppe2118]

People can redo the damage they caused and this gave me hope to see people who are trying to change things for the better

[@guesswhat3602]

We're facing similar issues here in Peru, South America. Engineers are raising awareness and promoting projects to restore the natural flow of rivers, reclaim floodplains, and return them to their original landscapes.

[@celdur4635]

Where

[@ducthman4737]

Many wetlands were drained in the past to prevent diseases spread by mosquitoes. Wetlands were always seen as unhealthy places. That was one of the reasons 2000 years ago, when it was much warmer than today, the Romans brought water to their big cities via aqueducts from a clean source. Of course if you create an ecosystem that's not all the time flooded you should prevent this problem.

[@PaulN-x2q]

Laminar-flow of a stream is not desirable. It contributes to intense discharge when observed on a hydrograph. A stream that braids and meanders can allow sand and gravel to deposit, rather than incise and channelize. Beaver, once widespread in the American West, are largely absent; beaver reduce the impact of intense steam discharge. Vegetation, in particular situations, can provide flood mitigation. However, inducing meandering and braiding by building or fostering bars, and allowing point-bars to form can also be a solution. Beaver-dam-analogs have been used with some degree of success. Consider dam removal, in places where flood and sediment has been restored to a river channel, channelization and erosive-cut has made way for a stream which exhibits a complex, non-laminar flow. When the landscape exhibits significant friction against the stream discharge, the landscape can naturally filter, and regulate the chemistry and temperature of the water as it percolates thru the soil and gravel on the bed and stream-banks; I consider such a situation analogous to a spring-creek, common in regions rich in carbonate-type soils and bedrock.

[@estebancorral5151]

@@PaulN-x2q you are saying only partially what the Viktor Schauberger said one-hundred years ago. He had more to say on the subject. Incise is not the word for what has in the river. The word is scour.

[@aguana369]

Thank you sooo much for putting the sources in the discription!! great video

[@DWPlanetA]

Hi! We're glad that our resources turned out to be helpful for you! We would love to see you subscribe and hear what you think about our upcoming videos ✨

[@aguana369]

@@DWPlanetA Sure! Now I am hocked xD I would love to see a video on flooding, but in smaller /bigger citys. I think this is a very interesting and important topic :) thank you for your input

[@pargevkarapetyan2251]

Greate program👌👍👍👍

[@juxwo]

Watched this twice, first stumbled upon this was a week prior to the Calamity of Typhoon Kristine, which brought devastation in our region of Bicol in the Philippines. The heavy rains, where experts say equavalent to a 3 months worth of rainfall have downpoured for a 24 hour-period causing massive floods that affected almost 2 million individuals from the last 2 days. Until now, a lot of places are still submerged in floodwaters and people are desperately pleading for help for rescuers to come or at least bring them food and water to survive. I hope our government here will learn something from this video.

[@bramharms72]

If anyone doubts this, we here in the Netherlands had the same problems. Luckily not on the same scale but still. We're ahead of you by about 10 years (I think). Probably because of the smaller scale but it was (and is) still a very expensive project. Anyone doubting the proposed measures in Deutschland can at least see that solutions like the ones in the video do work.

[@ripHalo0002]

That 3d visualization of the forest composition was really cool!

[@mattleach958]

I am so glad and hopeful to see this happening. Let everyone get together and discuss this all over the world.

[@intheshell35ify]

I've lived in the Mississippi River area my entire life. We farm every inch of the land...right up the edge of the river and most of its tributaries. We keep the land farmable with our levees and system of drainage ditches. But sometimes the river wins. Most of us have learned to put the homes and businesses out of the floodplains. We keep the drainage ditches dredged and free of large vegetation.

[@larshaas2658]

i know a little bit about water management. so this solution has 3 problems. 1. it isn't done fast enough and on a larger scale (primarily due to bureaucracy etc.) 2. it can be halted by any of the included parties like the farmers, city/politicians, recreationists. 3. you can forget governments will also apply this to the large rivers because they want to keep using them for logistics etc. (the solution works really well, it's just like always that bureaucracy and rights are a pain in the ass when it comes to nature)

[@spencersanderson1894]

If a farmer of recreationalist is against helping the greater good then they should be moved off the land, no ifs not buts. No place in the world for people who stand in the way of good progression.

[@dennis2376]

Very cool. In the Lower Mainland of BC, Canada we have been doing what is shown in the video in some areas. Thank you.

[@jimk3487]

Not only that, water move faster in a straight or smooth line resulting force being accelerated. Natural river has many curves reducing the water pressure along the way.

[@web_jar6630]

This is amazing and insightful. I really like the idea of working with nature rather than against it.

[@DWPlanetA]

Hey there! Glad you liked the video. We post videos like this one every week. We would love to see you subscribe and hear what you think about upcoming videos ✨

[@alcidesforever]

11:38 Lowest country in Europe doesnt even show up in the vulnerable-to-flooding map, ... Well played, Netherland, well played indeed

[@THEchiQ]

Our regional council, here in Te matau a Māui, Aotearoa/NZ, is planting native forest along our river corridors now.

[@literaturtee]

Großartiges Projekt! Sehr beeindruckend! Ich hoffe, dass dies noch in vielen Regionen in Deutschland und darüber hinaus möglich gemacht wird.

[@philw6056]

Nature neither works for us nor against us. It simply goes about its business. It is our responsibility to decide where we oppose nature in order to build things like cities and infrastructure, including waterways. However, larger changes almost always lead to larger problems that need to be overcome. Rarely do we have the luxury of utilizing nature's work without disadvantages. Only by abandoning the use of the river as an artificial waterway here can we benefit from other advantages, such as flood protection and improved water storage capacity. For centuries we steamrolled nature to improve industrialisation and efficiency. In light of climate change it's not only about improving our standard of living, we might not be able to protect our standard of living without renaturalisation. But it has to be done at a global scale. Because people in dire situations die, but more often they move.

[@lorenzolupica8833]

I"ll admit: They did some works right where I live. They widend a small canal but seemed to me they had just left a huge mess behind. I was shook and kinda upset that the administration had something like this approved. I went to vacations and forgot about it. Now it sprawls with life and knowing the positive effect can't make me happier they "left a mess".

[@kkanth0ny]

the whole world need to get together and start making the earth a better place.... too bad the rich dont give a dam....

[@thedoctor2085]

Bars

[@VinnieMF]

The poor don't either

[@franziskani]

This was uploaded on Sep. 6th, 2024. Starting with Thursday Sep. 12th there was a major low that caused catastrophic floodings with unprecedented rainfall in all of Austria, and it was even worse in some parts of Czechia and Poland. This time it was not that bad in Germany. In Austria up to 420 l of rain per square meter (the highest ever recorded) and plenty of areas got 200 - 300 l. Even those less affected had 100 - 200 l per square meter. All within 4 days. 1 l equals 1 kg (around 2 pounds for U.S. audiences), so think 420 kgs per square meter (that was near the capital of the state of Lower Austria, St. Poelten). It was a Vb (five b) type of low. Which is rare but usually spells trouble and potential flooding, it will often heavy rain over several days. However, in the past that would have resulted in 100 - 200 l per square meter max. (which is bad enough as these lows cover large areas). But now these systems move more slowly AND because the Mediterranean Sea is 4 degrees warmer than in the past such systems also carry much more water. There was a bit of good luck, a lot of the precipitation fell in form of snow in the alpine regions, and close to other mountain ranges. There was a major drop in temperature. From late summer to late fall in 1 day. The low from the too warm Mediterranean met Arctic air. But the states that partake in the Alpes had no major flooding, the snow only started melting when the worst was over. Needless to say there were tourists that HAD to go into the mountains (some even with inadequate equipment). 3 or 4 rescues (some with risk for the rescuers !) - and in one case one man died that had gotten into an avalanche. Because the low also caused storms the helicopters could not look for him, not even on the next day, it would have been to dangerous. The other 26 of that German group can now rethink why they had to make that tour. All of them had to be rescued, once they missed that man, looked back and saw that an avalanche had gone down. So obviously they also did not stick together and he must have been lagging behind. Then they did not move anymore and asked to be rescued. But that is not on the weather it is on arrogantly ignoring the locals and the weather forcast and basic mountaineerig rules. Weather forecast warned 6 days in advance that a big front with lots of rain and snow even in lower altitudes near the mountains was coming. And that it would come on Wednesday night or early Thursday and last till Monday. So two men started a week long tour on Monday and got into trouble on Wednesday already. Others started their day tours on Friday and Saturday (when the front was already there, and precipitation was on the high end of the prediction, and the warnings had been upgraded).

[@Fabiansegara1969]

We do that in the Netherlands already, from 2007. It's called "Ruimte voor de rivier" Old News LOL

[@mariapilarme]

Don’t build near rivers.

[@philrabe910]

Recharging the aquifers is a major benefit from these kinds of projects. They are trying to restore parts of the Los Angeles River right in the most urban, concrete and asphalt covered part of the US. It's a nice effort but they have no forest to work with. But elsewhere they have built large drainage plains- essentially enormous French drains that take river overflow and let it seep back into the ground instead of running out to sea.

[@TravellingTechie]

'Slow the flow'. Introduce wetlands, forests, encourage soak-away draining rather than straight into rivers.

[@jonathanrossroberts]

People love building in floods plains here in the US. There were some apartments that were built in a flood plain in my hometown. Over the years it continually floods, ruins the apartments, partial renovations, sale of the apartment complex, full restoration, repeat cycle over. It's currently condemned, shouldn't be much longer before it continues.

[@alandoolan1892]

Really enjoyed this video....

[@dannystroo]

In The Netherlands this has already been done. Project called 'Ruimte voor de rivier'

[@vidhanchandrasahu1185]

I'm doing my Masters in Water resource engineering.... Nice video 👍🏻

[@DWPlanetA]

Hey there! Very glad to hear that you enjoyed the video. We post new videos like this one every week. We would love to see you subscribe and hear what you think about our upcoming videos ✨

[@jollyjokress3852]

best prevention imaginable. not only are the adverse effects of flooding reduced but also biodiversity is promoted!

[@LordNecron]

The pictures right at the 'Rivers aren't supposed to look like this' is about 25 km away from where I live. they have been working on restoring a lot of the floodplain, however. Not in a permanent way, mind you. But the picture is halfway through its rebuild in that picture. The dam (with powerplant in the building, between river and canal) is also needed, as this river has a high flowrate even in dry seasons, and is basically fueling half of the northwestern german canal system. And when the river is on a dry level, the canal itself (and a few pump stages down-canal) can be used to funnel water from the Rhine back up into the river itself, since ALL of the turbines are reversible.

[@Simonb1977]

@DWPlanetA: old news. The Dutch started 30 years ago. Recently when Germany and Belgium had more than a 100 deaths during floods, the Dutch didn’t have any deaths…

[@DWPlanetA]

The Netherlands has invested billions in flood protection systems that seem to work very well! Of course, the same resources are not available everywhere - but there are many good things to learn from.

[@HowellQ]

If you watched the video, you would know that it was stated they started this decades ago near Leipzig too.

[@OssWiX]

I think what they were getting at is that this is the major method of prevention that has minimized flood damage in recent years. For the past 2 decades the Netherlands has been actively widening the floodplains of many rivers to prevent these kind of devastating events, the results can clearly be seen now. It's thus old news that this is a very effective method, even with keeping rivers mostly straight but reinstating natural floodplains. So it's not the billion dollar mega infrastructure one often gets to see about the Netherlands, which is mostly to prevent floods from storms at sea. But million dollar hidden projects of accuiring land to increase floodplains that have prevented the floodings like in Belgium and Germany.

[@danbernardes1726]

In Brazil all rivers and damn lakes have a protected marginal forest area between 50m to 100m on both margins (depending on how wide is the river). Of course they make exceptions for city areas and for damns and bridges and ports. But I think even for new cities or neighborhoods they can't be build right next to rivers anymore.

[@sureshkumar-qw9ny]

More than straightening or streamlining a river it seems occupying and converting the swamp / forest land around it's banks seems to the real problem. It's a huge problem in my country too.

[@rogercarroll1663]

Great video. Thank you.

[@DWPlanetA]

Thanks for watching! Please also go and subscribe to our channel to get new videos like this.🌞

[@hagnat]

let what happened in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in May 2024 be a warning for all half the state was below water, destroying cities, infrastructure, and displacing nearly half a million people in the process

[@이일준-h5h]

The same with Manila. It was a swampy area and has lots of rivers but government laid concrete and rivers has been sealed underneath. With the rising population, these river canal have been filled with trash and cleaning crews have a hard time unclogging it. Some rivers are blocked too, so whenever theres a severe tropical storm Manila will and always have flooded areas.

[@DWPlanetA]

Thanks for commenting. Do you know of any ways the city has responded to the issue? 👀

[@이일준-h5h]

@ Just recently I believe there has been a monthly cleaning of the Pasig river but the rivers underneath the roads and canals are still barred with trash. Cleaning and fixing this problem will be costly and most politicians don’t want to put their money on it. They’ll just put the money in their pockets instead of fixing the flood problem. Sad

[@MegaRamster]

this seems like a positive move, interested to see if it sticks for years to come.

[@jorgepancorvol]

Great work from Leipzig city.

[@DavidRose-m8s]

The slow loss of soil on sloping land due to farming, and forestry practice's also means there is less soil to hold, and absorb the rainfall resulting in larger volumes of more rapid runoff creating fluvial degradation in the landscape's, and river systems which provides stronger feedback reinforcement for more of the same.

[@MonikaGranat-h3k]

In the uk we seem to start following this type of concept. Then completely contradict it by building houses on the previous flood plain land

[@cflow3914]

Love your videos!!! Keep it up!!

[@volkerr.]

F. e. The flood catastrophe in the Ahrtal ( more than 100 dead) mainly was such a big one because the regional government had built back most of the water structures that were built in 200 centuries by our ancestors. For a reason. The reason why it was built back? To enable fish to swim easier back to their spawning grounds 😮

[@franziskani]

That is not true. See the catastrophic flooding of 1804 (comparable to 2021) and 1910 was bad too. 2021: It was a heavy rain event over several days (and those will become more likely). 150 - 200 ml which means 150 - 200 l water per square meter - and at some point water rose very quickly because of "dams" being created by fallen trees, when they piled up under bridges etc. There was no timely warning, despite the heavy rain event over several days (that already spelled trouble). So that is on authorities. Plus the large reservoir that was planned but never built. And ignoring the past. 1804 / 1910 / 2021 - it gets bad every 100 years. The topography is hills and valleys so if there is a heavy rain event, the water will be channeled to flow into creeks and the Ahr, and levels will rise quickly (and fall quickly after the rain stops). The water masses were comparable to the catastrophic flooding of 1804 - and it was made worse this time because more of the surface is sealed off. Channels had been created for smaller streams, vine yards drained into the river, so heavy rain, increases water levels even faster. Spring 2021 had been very wet and the soil was not able to absorb water - with the drainage of the vine yards that would not have made much of difference, and if the landscape is hills, the runoff during heavy rain is substantial. That could be counteracted with creating terraces and building up excellent soil (they do that in South East Asia for rice terraces, else the tropical rainfalls would cause major erosion and flooding). I also assume that the forests in the region are fir plantations and not natural style forests. Which create good soil and can absorb water like a sponge - even in steep terrain. Would not have absorbed all of the 150 - 200 l per square meter but could have delayed things and could have given the river time to transport the water to the Rhine. So if authorities had monitored the bridges to avoid the build up of obstacles then acting as dams .... There had been plans for build a large reservoir (after the bad event of 1910) - to take up the excess of major floodings. Accomodating the fish does not matter if such expensive projects are realized. The flooding of 1910 must still be in public memory. Old people still alive that have been told how bad it was, etc. Children learning in school about it, memorials etc. 1910 was bad, but not as bad as 1804 or 202. These rare but consequential events were not considered when authorities planned the worst case scenarios. The good years after WW2 were not used to bring protection up to date.

[@XdB1Gz7StR4C7]

Very informative video. Thank you.

[@DWPlanetA]

Hey there! Very glad to hear that you enjoyed the video. We post new videos like this one every week. We would love to see you subscribe and hear what you think about our upcoming videos ✨

[@nawawiawi4013]

You should mention about length and volume. Imagine a straight thread connected from point A to point B and compare it to a not straight thread that connected from point A to B. The not straight one would be longer thread than the straight one. Which means the not straight one is longer as well more space and volume. Applied to rivers it will be related to water capacity

[@charleswillcock3235]

Apologies if I missed this point, much of this seemed to concentrate on rivers and their lower reaches but there needs to much less drainage of upland areas. The UK has many moors. A moor is a hill covered in peat typically - in recent times these have been drained. These were like huge sponges soaking up water and slowly releasing it, this was madness, because it increased flooding downstream.

[@MrToradragon]

How were the moors drained in England? By ditches or were some pipes laid deep in the ground? While we do not have similar ecosystems in Czechia, we have some mountain meadows, or how to best describe those meadows n plateaus of border mountains, that were drained in past two centuries, especially after WWII, by system of concrete pipes. Those are now being removed and the ditches are being filled in. After some times, once water level rises sufficiently, streams reappear on the surface.

[@charleswillcock3235]

@@MrToradragon The drainage of the moors in England were simply trenches aka ditches cut in the peat to the existing streams running off the moors. This policy is now in reverse due to the flooding created downstream.

[@MrToradragon]

@@charleswillcock3235 That is good to hear that the policy is being reverse. I also assume that the works can be carried out much more quickly simply by obstructing those channels, compared to pulling out all those pipes as is the case here.

[@mcln2]

Love all editorial and style that lately is coming out! Congratulations

[@michelecampanelli5419]

👍👏❤ from 🇮🇹

[@AgonxOC]

If you had NOT said climate change (As climate is ever-changing) to indicate the floods are due to higher rains (which is good for crops, trees, etc.) this would have been an amazing documentary. So what has happened is NOT more floods, but as mentioned the flood plain are no longer able to accept water as they are covered with more concrete these days (towns, cities, etc).

[@vrhovnipredstojnik7650]

Nature has already done this to us from scratch!

[@Hongaars1969]

Thank you for this informative and interesting report thereby also providing hope for a significant reduction in major flooding events in future.

[@crazyt1483]

I aggre but also smaller things like for new build estates having reasonable green spaces to at least take in and store the water. And dirt play parks instead of the safety rubber or other non permeable material. Something I've also noticed is incorrect foliage type or amount. Like near my grandparents there's a pond that had so much foliage redusing the out flow the pond water level has increase with high rain causing it to burst its banks and drain in the road drains (over filled sewers leading to contaminated discharge) while before that water was stored and or the commons down stream was flooded/bit boggy)

[@xoigel8106]

The forest in question is around 80 football fields; But the how big is the area that is secured from floods?

[@theresabu3000]

Hard to answer I think - cause it will (only) work together with other projects. The ultimate goal I suspect is to protect the whole region of Leipzig and Halle - two major cities. Landscape is really flat there - but I think it has advantage of turning some landscapes back into biodiverse forests that are sometimes flooded (Auwald 🌊🌳). Those could also help with tempering heats and keeping soils healthy. I know Saxony had some major floods in the past - curiously the smaller rivers in hilly regions can be really dangerous/volatile as well. But it also has the big river Elbe with beautiful historic cities like Dresden, which is used commercially up river. I know other regions where it's really needed, but even more difficult to implement, because if people living too close. The Rhine for example needs this too - to have more of those former flood areas be "unused" able to be flooded. I think some still could have recreational use - but the majority has to become a Naturschutzgebiet. 🚫🇳🇫

[@xoigel8106]

@@theresabu3000 Thank you for the info; still i think with modern simulation techs it is possible to get a good idea of the immediate/minimum improvement that we will get from 10M€. And we need to understand how much more is needed for securing all of Germany, from floods that occur once a decade, once a century, once a Millenium, etc. And how much the food production is reduced, etc. If these scientists continue, i am subscribed :D

[@urbanstrencan]

Here in Slovenia we have a big problem with flooding, because of not proper river control

[@dodekaphilist]

Man spricht das übrigens Mark-Klee-Berg aus und nicht Makleberg ;)

[@GranRey-0]

Boris is proving the need for this even more.

[@paranoid9678]

where I live they have a river that was used as a sewer for 120 years and converted it back into a river all the wastewater is now sold underground in gigantic A/B/C protected wastewater pipes which now transport the wastewater with several pump stations the river itself still largely has its concrete channel, but a few overflow basins were added, which are used as a meadow when the water is low other parts of the 80+ km long river where fewer people live were completely built back up and left to nature took them more the 40 years and over 6 billion to do it and so far no flood problems ducks and other animals are now swimming around in the river another small advantage is that the property value has increased

[@dylanmartinese7780]

Well I like this idea I like how the restoring back the life within the forest I love it

[@pingyong6940]

Did you even double-check? Embedded subtitle. Its only there in the opening.

[@horsepowermultimedia]

Germany: Why you keep flooding us? Nature: Because you keep turning my rivers into canals! That's why!

[@Middlechild98]

Do you know if there is a solution to old mine sites that have been abandoned? I was watching this and remembered how mines were also affecting rivers and such.

[@cimuraisampi]

the simplest explanation is "give back anything thats belong to them", its their world and the way they were and are.

[@simonf8490]

You could do it how the authorities in Australia do it, clear the forest in a flood plane, build houses or a mine in the area and when it predictably floods and causes millions in damages simply impose a levy or tax to pay for damage but not fix the problem. It's infuriating to watch when that happens time and time again.

[@AdrianDmax]

Here in the Philippines there are always typhoons along with floods and no matter how much the river is cleaned, nothing has changed

[@Alastair510]

I don't think you understood the video. 'Cleaning' a river is part of the problem. It just makes the water get to the floodlands faster.

[@zmojofoot76]

It's not simply cleaning the river I'd rewatch the video again

[@cavemann_]

@@Alastair510 Philippines are in a very unique situation, especially because of monsoon climate. Even if you 'clean' a river, it's not going to do much on it's own. What they need is a proper (and expensive) drainage system like Japan.

[@Alastair510]

@@cavemann_ What they need is to stop canalizing and straightening rivers, do exactly what is described in the video.

[@cavemann_]

@@Alastair510 Modernity comes with changes in landscape, I think it's fair to say that landscape restoration is a limited solution.

[@kthekid488]

Please be able to carry the torchlight of all the best Sunnyside 🌞 ☀️ 🙏 😎 🙌 ❤️

[@simplymess4863]

Unless those who 'own' the lands in my country can stop their greed, I can only dream for a project like this to ever take place 😢

[@MarynaSkawinska]

Proste rzeki mogą pogarszać sytuację powodziową z kilku powodów. Po pierwsze, ich prostowanie zmniejsza naturalne zastoiska, które wcześniej mogły absorbować nadmiar wody. Po drugie, szybszy przepływ wody w prostych korytach prowadzi do nagłego wzrostu poziomu wody, co zwiększa ryzyko powodzi w okolicznych terenach. Dodatkowo, takie zmiany często wpływają na ekosystem, co może prowadzić do dalszych problemów z retencją wody. Dlatego ważne jest, aby podejść do zarządzania rzekami z większą uwagą na ich naturalne właściwości.

[@Susan.I]

Let our rivers flow as they did before we made them straight!

[@bmanpura]

5:47 They're talking like the environment can "forget" that easily. Our history is merely hundred or thousands of years, the land there remembers even more. What seems to us years may be to them just "weeks" or "days".

[@suleymansekman2697]

Good as gold! cheers!

[@MirawatiLestariSlamet]

In Indonesia, open space riverside in big city become slum area...they utilize river to collect their liquid n solid sewage.

[@Freaky0Nina]

Tbf. Netherlands is so flat, it has space left and right for houses. In the very narrow Ahr valley? Not so much.

[@DarkKnight52365]

unless something drastic happen here in America our corrupt politicians will be like "its fact of life get use to it" while taking their corporate checks

[@stansearcheslife6363]

Markdal is a good example of this

[@stewartjones2173]

A forest populated by Black Poplars would do very well there, they like getting their feet wet by all accounts. They also harbour large communities of insects and are fire resistance - there wood was used as brake blocks in the age of steam.

[@carlbarkham3115]

Canals are straight as they are man made. River’s naturally find their own path, and at a certain part along their length they meander. It’s a way that they control the flow of the water contained in them.