I used a range of fieldwork and research techniques to investigate

flood risk in Guilford, which is located in Surrey.

One piece of fieldwork I carried out was storm stimulation tests,
which would enable me to collect infiltration rates from different
surface types. Urban surfaces like gravel and concrete had a low
infiltration rate compared to vegetation surfaces like grass which
increased urban surfaces, surface runoff. These pieces of fieldwork
helped me see that there will be increased flood risk if there are
more urban surfaces this is due to rock permeability.
Another piece of fieldwork I carried out was a flood risk survey,
which also included research too, to calculate the flood risk. Before I
visited Guildford I need to work out the likelihood, which would
then enable me to work out the flood risk by timing it by severity
which I would work out from each of the sites in Guildford. I used
goggle earth to split the area around the river Wey into 12 sections.
Using Google earth I could find out the height above river level and
distance from the river at each site. Once at Guilford I scored each
site based on land use and percentage of built up areas these gave
me the severity of flooding. It was clear to see form my results that
built up areas that were also closer to the river had the greatest risk
of flooding.
Another piece of fieldwork I carried out to determine the flood
risk in Guilford was the bankfull measurement if the river mole. This
would show how much water could potentially be held before
discharge occurred. I used a tape measure and a metre stick to
collect this data. I took depth measurements at several points along
the width of the river. This helped me see that having a deeper and
wider river would allow more water to be collected and therefore
less risk of flooding. However I found that the river mole was deep
therefore at risk from flooding.
One piece of research I conducted was comparing old and new
maps, which I found on Google. I compared different maps from all
around surrey to see if the land use had changed as well as the
shape. I found a lot of urbanisation with green surfaces decreasing
in size. Therefore this has increased the flood risk in Guilford.
Also I researched rainfall data from local weather stations and
the Met office and I also collected meteorological data and weather
reports from the Met Office. This helped me investigate into the
long-term links between precipitation and flooding, which I found a
clear link between high precipitation rates and high flooding risk
around Guilford.
Finally I used ordnance survey maps to research the size and
gradient of river drainage basins of the river Mole. I found rainfall in
the river mole drainage basin had some step slopes, which means
the rain would reach the river quickly, increasing discharge.
Therefore this would increase flood risk in the area around the river
Mole.