We started off by carrying out experiments on three infiltration tables - slopes of brick, soil or grass built on brick foundations - a gutter with holes in along the top provides the "rain" and guttering at the bottom enables runoff to be collected and measured at certain time intervals. The students predicted what happened, carried out the experiments then considered the results afterwards using their previous hydrograph knowledge.
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| Students gathering data about infiltration of a ploughed field scenario |
The next activity involved measuring infiltration rates of the lawn outside the house. Groups of 3 picked a random spot, hammered a metal tube into the ground, poured in specific amounts of water and recorded the time it took to infiltrate into the ground. On considering the results later they ranged from 1847mm/hr to 30mm/hr - the students concluded the moles were most likely to blame!
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| Students measuring infiltration rates on the lawn |
The afternoon was spent conducting investigations in Shrewsbury - land use mapping of different areas, risk/severity ratings for the different areas and questionnaires about locals' knowledge and opinions of the flood defences. Before returning to the field centre they had a short tour of sections of the flood defences and mapped them.
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| Students observing the Frankwell flood defences on the River Severn at Shrewsbury |
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