Added 2/4/2009

'Making Space for Water' but how much?

'Making Space for Water'. Well yes, but just how much space and much water? This week the EA revealed a plan to allow the North Sea to flood 160 hectares of prime agricultural land in Lincolnshire.
 
The North Sea has a surface area of 570.000 square kilometres (Encyclopaedia Britannica), which obviously equates to a similar number of cubic kilometres in volume. 160 hectares flooded to a depth of 1 metre is is 10 cubic kilometres of overflow capacity, i.e. 0.00175 % of the area which will be needed to absorb the expected increase in level over the next 100 years.
 
I was never much good at arithmetic but does this mean we can expect the EA to demand the sacrifice of 57.000 more chunks of 160 hectares to satisfy their EU masters over the next 100 years?
 
Please prove my arithmetic wrong.
 
Harry B