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New Thames Barrier delayed for 40 years
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent31 Mar 2009
PLANS to replace the Thames Barrier to protect the capital from the increased risk of global warming are to be delayed by 40 years.
The Environment Agency said today it believes the existing barrier, which became operational in 1983, can now protect London until at least 2070.
Experts had previously thought it would only protect the 1.25million people living in the Thames floodplain until 2030 and had been drawing up plans for a major new barrier at Sheerness in Kent.
But the agency now claims the latest science on sea-level rise and the design of the barrier mean it will be able to cope with expected sea level rises far better than previously thought.
"The original design specification of the Thames Barrier was to provide protection from a one in 1,000 year event up to 2030," the Environment Agency said in a statement. "However, improvements in modelling, and analysis of the designed allowances for sea level rise, have led this figure to be revised.
"With continued maintenance the barrier will provide protection from such an event up until 2070 based upon current climate change guidance."
The decision follows a six-year investigation by the Environment Agency.
Chris Burnham, of the agency, said: "We looked at the most recent data, from the Copenhagen conference of climate change just a few weeks ago, and we are confident the existing barrier will cope with their prediction of a one-metre rise by the end of the decade."
Mr Burnham added: "When the original barrier was built, very little was known about climate change. But our latest computer models show the barrier was overdesigned, and there is a lot of extra capacity in it. We were very impressed by how well it performed in our latest simulations."
The Environment Agency says its worst case scenario for the Thames is a rise of 2.7 metres. "We do have plans in place for this, but we believe it is very much a worst case scenario," said Mr Burnham.
A consultation on the proposals, called the Thames Estuary Plan will be launched today, and makes recommendations for protecting the capital until 2100. Dr. Paul Leinster, chief executive of the agency, said the plan will give "confidence to more than one and a quarter million people living and working in the estuary floodplain that the risk is manageable.
Reader views (4)
Kate, Please may I suggest you test your 'experiments' in future before publishing them here?
You WILL find that the water levels stay EXACTLY the same (otherwise you are violating a rather fundamental law of physics) ... that is unless you go away for long enough for the water to start evaporating. How such a comment can go unchallenged for so long is quite beyond me ...
- Wolf, London, UK, 09/06/2011 16:27
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Any development of the river Bank below the barrier will cause increased river levels at Spring Tides and with an easterly wind storm surge. Reason? man made construction and nothing to do with global warming. All flood barrier in rivers push the problem further downstream, and with the Thames, the below barrier port facilities and other construction will only make it worse.
On melting ice and increased sea level: The North West passage (sea way) was named before Global Warming was even thought of.
Put two ice cubes in a glass. Fill to brim with water. Watch and wait. The water level will go DOWN not up when the ice melts. Why? Ice volume is larger than the water it displaces, and by the way more snow is falling in Greenland, which was cultivated in the 10th century.
- Kate, London, 31/03/2009 14:52
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Does this mean that floodplains, marshes, coastal communities etc, downstream from the barrier, are also safe? Nobody apparently wants an airport in or on the Estuary in order to "protect wildlife", but let's hope that plans are in place to teach the non-airborne wildlife to swim if need be.
Here's a proposition to generate not a few howls of outrage: build Boris Island airport, and use the eastern end of it to anchor a trans-estuary dyke/barrier with road and rail access to the airport from both shores, and at the same time provide a Continental access route to and from the Midlands, East Anglia, the North of England, Wales and Scotland which would avoid London completely.
Yours estuarily.
- Chris, Sheerness, UK, 31/03/2009 13:42
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So a six-year inquiry is ultimately decided by data from a few weeks ago. Two questions - isn't that a supreme waste of at least 5 years' salaries, and where can I get a job like that?
- Keith, Kings Cross, London, UK, 31/03/2009 13:09
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