August 6, 2007
Wales
Wales
The Cynghrair Hiraethog Alliance is calling for an independent flood risk evaluation to assess the impact of wind turbine developments in the Clocaenog, Ruthin and Denbigh areas.
“We have every reason to believe that major wind turbine developments in the area will cause increased risk of flooding from soil displacement and run-off,” said Michael Williams, secretary of the alliance.
“Large-scale felling on forestry land will mean that water will move much more rapidly from the upland areas down into the lower valley plains.
“By ‘large-scale’ we mean that the Forestry Commission will literally be felling thousands of trees to enable over a hundred, 100m high turbines to be built on its land.
“The flood risk management research consortium in a recent report indicated that after trials in Mid Wales, tree cover increased the water absorption of the soil by 60 times.
“We feel it is madness to be felling so many trees at a time when we are already seeing dangerously high river levels across North Wales, including the River Clwyd.
“In addition, the upland areas of Wales act like sponges, especially the peat-rich areas. They are valuable water retention points.
“The massive amounts of concrete needed for the turbine bases will mean that rain water can no longer be absorbed and retained.
“Tampering with this very fragile ecological resource will only lead to problems in the future.'”
2 August 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/08/06/wind-turbines-could-add-to-flooding-risk/