Day 727: “New Thames Barrier Could Be Built”

During yesterday’s Rising Tide 2 talk entitled In Levees We Trust, our resident civil engineer Tim Ruppert brought up two key examples of national pride in barriers to flooding – the flood barrier on the River Thames in London and the system of dikes that protects 60% of the Netherlands from being inundated by surge from storms on the relentless North Sea.

Tim mentioned that the flood risk associated with the Thames barrier is 1 in 1000, which means a 0.001% chance per year, every year of portions of London flooding due to surge, river flooding, sea level rise and changes in river morphology associated with tectonic activity. The current system is effective until 2030.

Well, the Brits are planning ahead. The Beeb today informs us (thanks, Blair!) that a second barrier on the Thames can and ought to be built, to the tune of 20 billion pounds and greatly reducing flood risk. Lucky them, they’ll probably get it!

Environment Minister Phil Woolas told the Sunday Telegraph that a feasibility study into a second barrier for the city would report within weeks … He said the probability London could flood had “doubled” from a one-in-2,000 to one-in-1,000 chance since the Woolwich barrier was built in 1983.

Do we even have a cabinet position for the environment (and, no, the head of the EPA doesn’t count)? To underscore exactly how amazing this concept of a second barrier is compared to flood protection in New Orleans, our risk is not yet at 1 in 100 per year, every year. God help us.