NI Water highlights natural flood prevention during awareness week

NI Water is highlighting how restoring peatlands, planting trees and improving land management can help reduce flood risk as wetter autumn weather arrives.

The message comes during Flood Awareness Week, which runs from 12 to 18 October.

Its Sustainable Catchment Management Programme, known as SCaMP, works to protect land around drinking water sources, including reservoirs and rivers.

The programme aims to improve raw water quality while delivering wider benefits for wildlife, carbon storage and resilience to heavy rainfall.

How natural flood prevention can help

Healthy peatlands and soils can hold rainfall and release it more slowly into streams and rivers.

According to NI Water, restoring these landscapes can help reduce the speed and volume of run-off after heavy rain.

SCaMP’s work includes peatland restoration, tree planting, fencing, blocking drains and improving how land is managed.

These measures help protect the catchments that supply drinking water while supporting a more sustainable approach to managing water across the landscape.

Working with farmers and landowners

NI Water said it is working with farmers, landowners and partner organisations to restore and protect drinking water catchments.

A spokesperson said: “As we move into the wetter autumn and winter months, it is important to recognise that flood resilience is not just about hard infrastructure. The natural environment has a vital role to play too.”

The organisation said healthier catchments can also support biodiversity, store carbon and improve the quality of water entering reservoirs and rivers.

Restored peatlands provide habitats for important species and can help make upland areas more resilient to climate change.

Part of a wider response to flooding

NI Water stressed that nature-based measures cannot solve flooding on their own.

However, it said healthy catchments have an important role alongside other measures in building long-term resilience.

A spokesperson added: “While they are not a standalone answer to flooding, healthy catchments are an important part of the wider picture and can help build long-term resilience.”

External link: NI Water

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