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Floodplains: The good and the bad

By: Maggilyn Cardenas 

    Floodplains provide ecosystem services that are important for humans. For example, drinkable water and provide fertile lands. However, floodplains also cause problems not only to humans but the environment as a whole. They can be responsible for soil, surface, and groundwater pollution. One of the bigger problems are wastewater treatment plants, landfills, and water handling facilities. Waste handling facilities help erosion and leaching behavior. Meaning that they can cause hazardous substances if flooded. The waste water treatment plants cause problems by releasing chemicals that were used in the plant. The primary goal for these is to protect the environment and are monitored by public environmental protection authorities. Another source mentioned in this article are contaminated sites. When they flood, they spread undesired chemical compounds in the environment. These are also under public environmental supervision. The European Community is presented to help these problems. They require an adequate and certain knowledge of pressure and natural hazards. The risks can only come down to three components: hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. The goal of this research is to identify the potential anthropic sources of pollution that are at risk of flooding that could possibly be induced to contamination of soil, surface water, and groundwater. 

                            (Photo by Environmental Modeling & Software)
Arrighi, C., Masi, M. Ianelli, R 2017. Flood risk assessment of environmental pollution hotspots. Environmental Modelling and Software. 100: 1-10

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  1. M MendezOctober 22, 2020 at 12:47 PM

    This is a great tool to model potential risk. Would the environmentally sustainable focus be that urban planning could take into account where these potential pollution sources could be moved or built? Since environmental sustainability is about pollution prevention, that change in policy would reduce overall environmental and human health exposure during floods.

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