Society: The first impression of a civil engineer is of someone immersed in materials, rather than personalities, but as a flood prevention officer Alvin Barber places empathy very high on his list of requirements in getting the job done properly.

THE first impression of a civil engineer is of someone immersed in materials, rather than personalities, but as a flood prevention officer Alvin Barber places empathy very high on his list of requirements in getting the job done properly.

"I think we are only just realising how bad it is to have your home flooded," he says. "Seeing people having to throw out all their belongings into a skip is heartbreaking and it's getting worse.

"However, we are now aware of the impact of flooding and the reasons behind it so we can work to pre-empt it."

Having qualified as a chartered civil engineer he began working with local authorities, mainly focusing on drainage. "As a civil engineer I wanted to build things and was very interested in the hydraulic side of things.

"I've been very interested in flood prevention since 1990 and at that time there was very little money available in that area, though that changed in the late 90s when there was a peak in flooding. This affected Scotland badly, though it was much worse in England and worldwide. Something had to be done and more money needed to be spent on flood prevention."

That was reflected by the creation of his current post with Edinburgh City Council. He took up the role in January 2000 and it was the first time the council had created a full-time flood prevention post. Legislation passed in 1998 provided the parameters for this job, which Barber had been in for only three months when the city was hit by the worst floods in 50 years.

"It was April 2000 and well over 1000 properties were flooded," he remembers, clearly still moved by the plight of many of the people he dealt with at that time. "It was very, very serious. There were streets full of houses with skips in front of every house there. I remember a man showing me a collection of ruined photographs, saying sadly, These were my family photographs.' You can't replace something like that."

One of his first duties in taking up the post was to build up a team and he now has four technical engineers and a draughtsperson working with him to develop a £50million flood defence in Edinburgh over the next two to three years. "In this job you're always watching the weather, irrespective of the time of year, but at least when that defence is complete the people in those areas can rest easy."

Although money is not so easy to come by at present, the last nine years has seen significant funding coming the way of flood prevention. "After the big flood in 2000 I didn't have to go asking for money for a long time," he explains. "There was strong political pressure and a real awareness that this level of devastation couldn't be allowed to happen again. I'm not so sure what will happen now there's no doubt that there could be difficult decisions ahead over where public money should be going but at the same time there's a general acceptance that you have to spend money on flood defences."

Flooding is caused by a variety of things, from drainage issues to building in inappropriate places, but Barber's extremely interesting on the subject of social change exacerbating the impact of flooding. "There are 200-year-old buildings in Edinburgh which have been flooded countless times over the years," he explains. "When they were first built the basements would be stone - and that included the floors - which when they were flooded could be back in action in a few hours after being drained and swept out. Maybe it was not very nice for the staff who worked in these kitchens and basements but the level of damage was minimal. Now, you have laminate flooring, lovely furnishings and furniture which simply cannot withstand water so the level of damage is much greater and takes so much longer to deal with."

The day-to-day routine of the job includes liaising with the city planning department to stop people building where they might make the flooding problem worse, working towards changing building and draining standards, looking after the reservoirs which have been in the city's hills for 150 years, checking coastal defences regarding flooding which can be influenced by erosion or huge waves and inspecting water courses.

Preventing the unacceptable effects of development is constant, but there's little that can be done in situations where buildings have been erected over many years where they really shouldn't have been, especially at times when the environmental impact was simply never considered an issue.

The work at those times might seem quite routine, but there will always be two members of staff on standby overnight and it isn't unusual for Barber to be called from his bed to deal with an emergency. "The type of flooding we deal with usually depends on the time of year," he says. "Summer storms tend to be sudden and local, while winter causes more widespread problems and a river flooding can affect an entire area. The first thing we do is source the problem, which is often caused by blocked watercourses, culverts and grills and the obvious thing to do is clear any obstructions and get the water away from homes. If necessary we'll contact the road workers who are on 24-hour call out and do everything in our power to rectify the problem with minimum disruption.

"However, although we're always on standby you cannot predict flash flooding and that can become a major problem very quickly. I don't know anyone in this line of work who's relaxed about the weather. Our job is to respond to situations which can become serious very quickly and the only thing that inspires confidence is permanent flood defences. We're still a long way from having that everywhere they're required, so I think I'll be doing this for a long time yet."