In the summer of 2004 Simon Phelps chose to spend his final year in academia at Bournemouth University developing a rapidly deployable flood barrier that could supersede sandbags in cost and function. 

Four years later the award-winning FLOODSTOP barrier has been sold to local authorities, government bodies and private households throughout the UK.  It was named Emergency Planning Society’s Most Innovative Product of the Year 2009.

Since studying at Bournemouth University I have researched into the use of sandbags as a rapid response tool for the both the Environment Agency and Local Authorities. The overwhelming conclusion is that sandbags – although moderately useful as a temporary measure against very low level flooding - are ineffective as a long term solution. With as many as one in ten homes in the UK at risk from regular flooding it is apparent that new solutions need to be introduced if our homes and businesses are to be kept safe.

Many homeowners at risk of flooding have found themselves passed from pillar to post in an effort to obtain the defences for their home, or when they have finally been allocated sandbags it is ‘too little – too late’.

Due to the increased threat of flooding in the UK, in April 2009 the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a revision of the Flood and Water Management Bill. This however was met with dismay by the National Flood Forum which called for the draft bill to be rewritten. The charity claims the draft bill will change nothing for flood victims as it has not simplified the current structure of organisations involved in flood risk management.

Laurence Waterhouse, NFF chairman, said: “The proposals increase the work of local authorities which at the current time do not provide the required level of response to surface water flooding. Many of these make no secret of having other commitments on their time and money.

“Ultimately, we feel that the proposed bill, while good intentioned, will not fundamentally change the way in which organisations who have responsibility for preventing or reacting to flooding will act.”

Using the Environment Agency’s (EA) Freedom of Information Service, anyone can collate the organisation’s spend on sandbags specific to flood defences.

Year                   Budget spend on unfilled sandbags
2007-2008        £74,000*
2006-2007        £54,900
2005-2006        £45,800
2004-2005        £45,000

*Estimated by the EA. 

If we take the 2007 – 2008 figure of £74,200 and assume that 70% of these bags are used as flood protection, the real cost to the EA will be £207,760 as it typically costs between £2.50 - £4.50 to fill and distribute a single bag.

According to FloodPACT (Parishes and Communities Together) a sandbag barrier which is 0.6m high requires 50+ filled sandbags per linear metre.  Therefore a linear metre of sandbagging costs a staggering £200.  If you then consider that sandbag barriers are:

• Often ineffective
• Non repeatable
• Slow to assemble
• Require manpower to construct.

These points demonstrate that both the Environment Agency, and to a larger extent local authorities, are wasting a large proportion of their budgets on sandbags.  Sir Michael Pitt’s findings following the 2007 floods found that there is no significant evidence that sandbags were particularly effective during the 2007 summer floods in providing protection to individual households, and the general provision of sandbags should be phased out in favour of better products. Currently only a handful of temporary barriers are available on the market, and these products are highly engineered and expensive.

However, now that low-cost and innovative systems such a Floodstop are emerging into the market, there is more opportunity for homeowners and businesses to protect themselves against the rising tide.

Simon Phelps, Fluvial Innovations Ltd. www.fluvial-innovations.co.uk.