Lismore floods aftermath debate asks if land management could slow flow of water
Flooding at Lismore in February last year.(Supplied: Rotor Wing)
As the painstakingly slow recovery continues for flooded communities across parts of Australia, a land management group says it's possible to take more than 2 metres off the flood peak by slowing the flow of water across the landscape.
Key points:
Stuart Andrews claims Natural Sequence Farming could take more than 2 metres off a flood peak
Southern Cross University professor Jerry Vanclay has questioned those claims, and says up to 1 metre is more realistic
Lismore City Council says it would need a grant to conduct scientific trials
Stuart Andrews, whose father Peter pioneered natural sequence farming (NSF) more than 40 years ago, hopes to get the chance to prove his father's theory on the north coast of New South Wales.
The CSIRO's interim report on the causes of the Lismore flood disaster found there was a need for a better understanding of how effective nature-based solutions could be in managing a flood.
The report's team wants to look at the whole of the catchment, including the role of vegetation in slowing and reducing the flow. The Lismore Council hopes some funding will be available to trial that approach in the region.
The federal government has allocated $150 million for flood recovery projects, and parts of the community are demanding work get started now.
But the government is waiting on a final report from the CSIRO before deciding whether to prioritise new dams and infrastructure or other approaches like this one.
READ MORE in the original article:
Lismore floods aftermath debate asks if land management could slow flow of water, ABC Rural, 8 May 2023