News

Chair of Environment Agency visits innovative CiFR-Lancaster monitoring

Lancaster researchers are core members of the 6 million pound CiFR 'research-by-doing' project delivering novel flood-mitigation across Cumbrian communities.

Ensuring nature-based solutions do measurably reduce floods is our component of the project - and a key measure of success for the whole of Defra's 150 million pound FCRIP programme.

We combine continuous monitoring of flood storage features with observed flood responses in channels upstream of at-risk communities. Our approach now forms the basis for the Environment Agency's new national tool for assessing these nature-based methods.

The approach is underpinned by advanced technology in the field linked with pioneering CAPTAIN modelling tools - our SMART monitoring approach.

Floods can also overwhelm wastewater treatment systems, with nature-based engineering now seen as one aspect of needed solutions (as shown within a paper with United Utilities).

Cleaning water using nature has been hampered by limited monitoring technology.

The Environment Agency through our partnership with the Westmorland & Furness Council has supported us to work with newly developed technologies for real-time monitoring of key variables such as phosphorus and nitrate.

We were able to show Alan Lovell, the Chairman of the Environment Agency, one of our technology development sites on the edge of Grasmere on 25 September.

Indeed, our phosphate sonde is the first deployment in the UK - delivering unique 1-minute resolution time-series data from wastewater-affected test sites in Cumbria

We are using the same CAPTAIN tools to understand these high frequency water quality data as for flood storage versus channel flow data.

Our scrutiny of the operation of pilot nature-based solutions ultimately means that public money is spent more wisely while communities are better protected from floods and can appreciate cleaner rivers and lakes.

Nick Chappell (Lancaster Environment Centre) states '...we appreciate hugely the 10 years of investment of the Environment Agency and Natural Environment Research Council to advance the science and technology underpinning Nature-based Solutions to flooding. They have been world leading in their support for the science...'.

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