Despite preparations by the City of London to mitigate the water-related effects of harmful climate change, a new report suggests that the nation’s water policy is ill-prepared for the extreme variations in weather patterns predicted over the next few years. 

The non-profit National Trust's report states that everyone in the British Isles must help the region improve if water control and distribution challenges caused by global warming are to be met.  Farmers, for their part, could help restore wetlands, and wetlands could absorb excess rainfall, acting as “buffer zones” to filter pollutants from water run-off before it enters the public water supply and irrigation sources.

 

These measures, along with landowners and public agencies planting small stands of trees along upstream tributaries could mitigate downstream flooding during times of excess rainfall, and help reduce the amount of sediment carried by the current. Aside from the environmental impacts of increased turgidity, sediment can clog channels and alter navigation, causing significant economic impacts to commerce along rivers and at their mouths.