A short history of muddy floods

Abstract

The term 'muddy flood' has been used widely in the lowland, arable areas of western and central Europe to describe muddy runoff from arable fields that causes damage to property. There is some evidence that muddy floods are much more frequent in the last two decades than previously. It is clear though that there is very substantial under-reporting of the phenomena even in areas where they have been recognised for 20 years e.g. UK and France. Reconstructions based on questionnaires, news media and local authority records have had some success in historical analysis of muddy flood frequency but there is still a huge data deficiency. Records from some countries are woefully lacking e.g. Germany, Spain and Italy.Costs of muddy flooding are substantial especially in the loess belt of Belgium. The number of properties flooded in France suggests also that costs are high; similarly in England (UK) where costs for case studies are known but not for the country as a whole.There are two quite different solutions to the problem of muddy flooding. Protection can be provided by engineering devices: retention ponds, dams, trenches. This is an 'end of pipe' solution with severe cost implications and risks with regard to the design return period. Alternatively, land use change on relatively small areas of catchments, can be shown to be effective at reducing flood-risk hazard. A combination of the two has proved most effective at several sites in Europe.

Climate impacts on soil erosion and muddy flooding at 1.5 versus 2°C warming

“…Unlike present‐day muddy flooding, the earlier and extended future muddy flooding season means that sediment yield would likely be generated more extensively across the width of the field, both between and within rows of maize. Since maize takes ~8–10 weeks to establish, a sufficient protective cover to the soil to prevent detachment following planting (Boardman, ; though this may change in the future with declining maize yields,e.g., Challinor, Koehler, Ramirez‐Villegas, Whitfield, and Das ()), it is very feasible that much of the muddy flooding from May–July would be generated from rill formation across rows of maize plants, whereas muddy flooding later in the year would follow present‐day patterns between rows (Vogel et al, ). The longer future muddy flooding season also helps explain why the magnitude of rainfall amounts and sediment yield during muddy flood events for the model mean are projected to increase for return periods up to 30 years, but decrease for the longest return period of 61 years.…”

How pixel size affects a sediment connectivity index in central Belgium

“…The combination of sensitive soils and intensive agriculture fosters erosion (Pineux et al, 2017). The Belgian loess belt is known for the high rates of soil erosion by water and frequent muddy floods (Verstraeten and Poesen, 1999;Bielders et al, 2003;Verstraeten et al, 2006;Boardman, 2010;Boardman and Vandaele, 2010;Evrard et al, 2007Evrard et al, , 2010. Annual average precipitation reaches 826 mm year -1 .…”

Assessment of Long‐Term Soil Erosion in a Mountain Vineyard, Aosta Valley (NW Italy)

“…Soil erosion by water is a major agricultural and environmental problem worldwide, because it directly causes fertility decrease, producing nutrient losses and reducing organic carbon stock as well as economic losses (Cerdà et al ., , ; Cerdan et al ., ; Galati et al ., ; García‐Díaz et al ., ; Lal, ; Maetens et al ., ; Martínez‐Casasnovas et al ., ; Montgomery, ; Morgan, ; Napoli & Orlandini, ; Ramos et al ., ). Furthermore, the ‘off‐site impacts’ of soil erosion are relevant: Watercourse pollution from fertilizers and pesticides, supply of sediments into rivers and reservoirs and muddy floods (Boardman, ; Boardman, ; Gumiere et al ., ; Stutter et al ., ) represent some of the undesirable consequences of the soil erosion process.…”