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River Tees Drainage Baisin Essay

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River Tees Drainage Baisin

The river Tees flows from the Pennines in Cumbria, northwest England, to the North Sea via Tees Bay. Its length is 130 km / 80 miles. Its port, Teesport, handles in excess of 42 million tonnes of water per year. Its main tributaries are the Lune, Balder, and Greta. There are many factors affecting the drainage baiins of the River Tees, many of these are human factors.

Water Barrage and Watersports: Much of the water nearing the sea is polluted with industrial waste, sewage, and chemicals. The Tees Barrage, which opened in 1995, enables a 16 km / 10 mile stretch of the river to provide clean, non-tidal water. The barrage was built to improve the river's watersports …show more content…

There are several reservoirs in the river basin used to store water to be used for later use. The reservoirs also helps in flood control. Water levels can rise very quickly following a rain storm. Storing water in the reservoir reduces flooding in the lower course.

Farming and Irigation Water: A major land uses in the upper Tees is rough grazing for sheep. The land is too steep to use machinery, the growing season too short and the soils too thin and acidic For growing crops and so not much water is needed for irigation in comparison to the River Severn. Only where the land is less steep is the pasture improved by fertilizers, the occasional crop is grown, requiring some irigation water from the Tees.

Hydro Electric power: There are no power plants along the Tees.

There are also many natural factors affecting the hydrology of the River Tees drainage basin, these include:

Geology: There is a succession of falls, where the river traverses a hard series of black basaltic rocks, the water flows fast her due to the steep down slope, the impermiable smooth rocks also allow fast flow and no infiltration, and so at times of heavy percipitation the water level at these points in the river will rise sharply and the power and speed of the river will increase. At flatter areas of these basaltic rocks the river can flood easily.

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