Every time our riverbanks burst and we suffer from floods, everybody blames the heavy rains that we have had. It has, in fact, nothing to do with the rain. Rain on its own will rarely cause rivers to flood.

It is the fact that we collect all the rain that falls via our house and road drainage system. And what do we do with all this rain that we collect? We put it in the nearest river, then complain when the river bursts its banks.

If this country was uninhabited, the rivers would not overflow. When rain falls on grassland or woodland, the soil takes up 90 per cent of the water, while ten per cent finds its way into our streams and rivers.

Once we build a house on that land, or build a road, then the figures are reversed.

Ninety per cent of the rain is collected up and deposited in the river, while the tiles and tarmac absorb less than ten per cent.

The population of this country has increased by more than ten million in the last 50 years. That means another four million homes. All collecting water to put into our rivers.

Add to that the water used in those homes, and the roads built in order to reach those homes, and you can see how much more water is being collected now than 50 years ago.

If we add to this figure the number of motorways, bypasses, business parks, supermarkets, car parks and shopping malls (all built on good water retentive land), and you can see how we are constantly adding to our own problem.

The situation will get worse, because we are building 200,000 new homes every year. Think of all the new roads that will be built to reach these. Sometimes, the floods occur before the water has reached a river.

This is because the Victorians built our drainage system. They didn't envisage every home having bathrooms, washing machines or dishwashers.

If two inches of rain falls on Bradford in 24 hours, I wonder how many gallons of water will have been collected up and deposited in the rivers?

Add to this, all the other towns and cities in West Yorkshire, and there can be little wonder that the rivers cannot cope. It seems that man is his own worst enemy.

The more advanced we become, the more problems we create. We improve our living accommodation and flood the land.

We improve our maritime and fishing methods and see fish stocks depleted, and pollute our seas.

We improve our transport system and pollute the atmosphere. The better we make our lives, the worse things become.

Man is very good at making improvements in every sphere of life, but is never able to overcome the problems of his own making.

To quote His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Today we have more experts, but more problems'.

So the next time you hear of floods, don't blame the recent rains, blame civilisation.