New
New
Year 10
Edexcel B

Costs and benefits of managing flood risk

I can assess the costs and benefits associated with hard and soft engineering strategies aimed at reducing river flooding.

New
New
Year 10
Edexcel B

Costs and benefits of managing flood risk

I can assess the costs and benefits associated with hard and soft engineering strategies aimed at reducing river flooding.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are costs and benefits of management strategies to reduce river flooding.
  2. Hard engineering strategies include flood walls, embankments and flood barriers.
  3. Soft engineering strategies include flood plain retention and river restoration.

Keywords

  • Sustainable - meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

  • Hard engineering - use of artificial structures and technologies to control natural processes, such as flooding or river erosion

  • Soft engineering - uses natural processes and landscape features to reduce the risk of flooding and erosion

Common misconception

Hard engineering is always better than soft engineering.

While hard engineering can be effective, it is not always the best choice due to cost and environmental impact. Soft engineering can be more sustainable and less intrusive.


To help you plan your year 10 geography lesson on: Costs and benefits of managing flood risk, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Use case studies to show real-world examples of cost-benefit analysis in action.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

6 Questions

Q1.
What is the hydrological cycle?
A cycle that explains rock formations
A process showing how rivers flow uphill
Correct answer: The continuous movement of water between the sea, air and land
A weather pattern caused by rain
Q2.
Which landform is most likely to be found in the upper course of a river?
Correct answer: Waterfall
Meander
Floodplain
Levee
Q3.
Which process involves the river wearing away its bed and banks?
Transportation
Correct answer: Erosion
Deposition
Precipitation
Q4.
What is deposition?
Correct answer: When a river drops material it was carrying
When rocks are broken down in place
When a river picks up material
When rainfall reaches the ground
Q5.
Which landform is formed by both erosion and deposition?
Waterfall
Correct answer: Meander
Levee
V-shaped valley
Q6.
In which course of the river would you typically find levees?
Upper course
Middle course
Correct answer: Lower course
River source

4 Questions

Q1.
What is meant by "hard engineering"?
Encouraging communities to plant trees
Allowing rivers to flood naturally
Correct answer: Using structures like dams and embankments to control flooding
Monitoring river levels using GIS
Q2.
Which of the following is a soft engineering strategy?
Building a concrete dam
Correct answer: Restoring natural floodplains
Constructing a levee
Digging artificial channels
Q3.
Which of these is a potential disadvantage of hard engineering?
It improves biodiversity
It reduces flood risk downstream
It increases infiltration
Correct answer: It can be expensive and unsustainable long-term
Q4.
Why is it important to evaluate both costs and benefits of flood management strategies?
Correct answer: To choose the most effective and sustainable option
Because flood risk is the same everywhere
So that only the cheapest strategy is used
To protect wildlife at all costs