Wednesday 29 January 2014

The Old Man And The Somerset Floods

He be still spitting feathers... OK... some media coverage at last but not exactly in-depth... (That do read like a bad pun in this context!) ...nor accurate... say The Old Man, who do grow up not a million miles away from the Levels or "The Moors". In fact he do grow up on a hill from where you could see for absolutely miles... but given the nature of that landscape... it be a pimple by Cornish standards.
So... where was he?
Aah! ....Nobody reporting on mainstream telly or radio, nor indeed the honchos pronouncing, seems to give due respect to the fact that this is drained wetland... (for may be a thousand years?) not rivers overflowing their banks. Paterson and his "cutting trees to block flows and re-planting..." don't apply to this fen-like place.
The Environment Agency's "Can't put the silt on the (dredged) river banks because that will obstruct run-off from the fields..." makes The Old Man apoplex. The field drainage never relied on "run-off"... cause they be pumped. The clue is in "Pumping Station" like where Paterson did look around on Monday.
I do like to think I am indeed a bit interested in the environment. The sad thing is that....in some angry and popular reactions...the Environment Agency equals "environmentalists". I don't think so. An Agency is an Agency (in this case related to DEFRA) ... not a movement of green-thinkers.

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