WHILE the Environment Agency's call for the public to build snowmen to slow the thaw (Post, January 24) has been much derided in the media, there is sense behind the suggestion.
This risk of flooding may be particularly pertinent in urban areas, where human activities increase the rate of snow melting and older drainage provisions are incapable of managing high volumes of water.
The fallen snow acts as a reservoir of water simply waiting to discharge to local watercourses and drains.
However, sudden and rapid thawing can potentially increase river levels or overwhelm drainage systems resulting in flooding.
Larger volumes of packed snow will maintain a lower core temperature and thaw over a longer period of time, therefore melting and releasing water over a longer duration, reducing the peak discharge rate sewers and watercourses are required to handle.
While the number of snowmen required to make a significant difference to the peak flow rate may be debatable, certainly any reduction in melted snow may help reduce the demand on local drains and subsequent risk of flooding.
BEN FURLONG Environmental Consultant Argyll Environmental,
Brighton
I LEFT work on Tuesday at 5.30pm and did not get home until 6.40pm (and I was probably one of the lucky ones!). I have never seen anything like it.
Everything in the city centre was gridlocked and so badly organised.
I do not understand why all the buses are diverted to South Sherwood Street when some of them could go from the Victoria Centre.
I just hope the works on Milton Street are finished sooner than later.
YOLANDE GLOVER
Lambert Smith Hampton
Hounds Gate, Nottingham
THE item on BBC1's Inside Out programme on Monday night (January 21) expressed many of my own fears about what is happening to our National Health Service, both its fragmentation and its marketisation.
What was most worrying of all, however, was the clear indication that the relationship between patients and GPs will be changed, but not for the better. The trust between patient and doctor, which has surely been the bedrock of the NHS since its inception, could be fatally undermined. Is there no way we can stop this happening?
HILARY HILLIER
Holmfield Road
Chilwell