Author Description
The last forty years have seen the destruction of a huge proportion of flora and fauna in marshes, wet meadows, ponds, and river banks. This has happened largely as a result of enormous public investment in land drainage, carried out by water authorities, councils, and individual farmers. As a practical landscape architect working in the Water Industry, Jeremy Purseglove has been actively involved in building a wider brief for land drainage engineers so that they can enhance, rather than destroy, the heritage of our rivers and wetlands. "Taming the Flood" draws extensively on this experience, not only analyzing the conflicting demands made on rivers and wetlands, but also outlining practical proposals for their protection and use.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the ecological consequences of large-scale land drainage and proposes a framework for reconciling engineering requirements with environmental conservation. Jeremy Purseglove, a landscape architect with direct experience in the water industry, utilizes his professional background to critique historical drainage practices. He argues that public investment in land management has historically prioritized drainage at the expense of biodiversity, and he presents a methodology for engineers to integrate conservation into their infrastructure projects.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the impact of land drainage on marshes, wet meadows, and river banks over a forty-year period.
- Practical proposals for balancing the conflicting demands of water management and habitat preservation.
- Case studies of landscape architecture applied to water industry projects.
Scope Limits
- The text focuses primarily on the context of British water authorities and land management practices.
- It does not provide a global survey of all river systems or international wetland policy.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Experts recognize this text as a significant contribution to the field of ecological engineering and landscape management. Readers frequently note that the prose effectively bridges the gap between technical engineering requirements and the practical realities of environmental stewardship.
Page Count:
319
Publication Date:
1989-11-09
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0192860917
ISBN-13:
9780192860910
History
Ecology
The Environment
Hydrology
Landscape architecture
Freshwater life
Conservation
Great Britain