Our bestpoke catchment model recreates two river catchments in miniature – one catchment featuring various natural flood management (NFM) measures and another reflecting a more typical modern rural landscape. “Rain” is introduced into the catchment via a number of water nozzles connected to a small pump and the resulting flow of water through the river channel and across the wider landscape can be easily seen. More importantly, the volume of water being retained by the two catchments can be measured, showing very clearly that the catchment with various NFM measures retains far more water than its counterpart.
This natural capacity of the landscape to retain water is what NFM relies on, slowing flood flows so that flood events are more manageable for the communities impacted by them. The model’s tangible demonstration of what NFM can deliver helps spread the NFM message, both locally (to communities all over the Tweed catchment), and nationally.
We have been using our catchment model to demonstrate the benefits of NFM since 2012 and although there have been small improvements made over the years, as replacement models have come and gone, the principle behind all of the models has remained the same. You can see a great video below which features one of the older models but still gives a comprehensive overview of the important messages that can be conveyed using this hands-on demonstration tool.