1. Why was the river put in an artificial channel for so much of its course?

The Quaggy, in common with urban rivers around the world, was progressively channelised as the urban environment encroached upon it. Rivers were channelised to prevent them from flooding. The idea was to build an artificial, straight channel that was much larger than the normal flow of the river. The channel was extra-large to allow it to take the biggest flows that would occur during very severe rainfalls. The channel was made as straight as possible so that the water could move away from the area as fast as possible. This did not work and flooding was made worse. Unfortunately, it was found that moving more water faster only made the flooding far worse downstream. This often resulted in ever bigger channels having to be built, at ever increasing costs.

2.What do these channels look like? (Paste in some pictures!)

The channel has been straightened using methods such as putting fences up and using concrete to keep the channel flowing in a straight line. This has resulted in the death of the river; this is where dangerous and ugly materials are used. The width varies from about 1m to several metres.

3.What are the problems with this approach?
Unfortunately, it was found that moving more water faster only made the flooding far worse downstream. This often resulted in ever bigger channels having to be built, at ever increasing costs.
Ironically, channelizing is now often blamed for some of the worst flooding caused by rivers. This approach is an eyesore to the public and is very dangerous towards small children who could fall into the river and potentially hurt themselves. This also affects the wildlife, e.g. fish, because plants will no longer grow on the bed of the river, meaning more will starve to death. This means that the food chain could potentially be damaged.