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A two-dimensional flood inundation model called LISFLOOD-FP, which was created by a team led by Professor Paul Bates at the University of Bristol, has served as a blueprint for the flood risk management industry in the UK and many other countries. The documentation and published research for the original model, developed in 1999, and the subsequent improvements made in over a decade of research, have been integrated into clones of LISFLOOD-FP that have been produced by numerous risk management consultancies. This has not only saved commercial code developers' time but also improved the predictive capability of models used in a multimillion pound global industry that affects tens of millions of people annually. Between 2008 and 2013, clones of LISFLOOD-FP have been used to: i) develop national flood risk products for countries around the world; ii) facilitate the pricing of flood re-insurance contracts in a number of territories worldwide; and iii) undertake numerous individual flood inundation mapping studies in the UK and overseas. In the UK alone, risk assessments from LISFLOOD-FP clones are used in the Environment Agency's Flood Map (accessed on average 300,000 times a month by 50,000 unique browsers), in every property legal search, in every planning application assessment and in the pricing of the majority of flood re-insurance contracts. This has led to more informed and, hence, better flood risk management. A shareware version of the code has been available on the University of Bristol website since December 2010. As of September 2013, the shareware had received over 312 unique downloads from 54 different countries.
Research, undertaken at the University of Sheffield since 2001, into the discolouration of drinking water occurring within distribution systems has had economic, policy and professional practice impacts on the water supply sector since 2008. This has resulted in improved levels of service, has safeguarded water quality delivered to the public and has delivered substantial economic savings. For example, in one of the few cases where monetary value is available, Wessex Water made 63% savings on two trunk main schemes with an initial estimated cost in excess of £1M. The 4 and 7 km lengths of these trunk mains represent less than 1% of the trunk mains being impacted by our research. Our research has resulted in a step change in the concept and approach to the management of discolouration in water distribution systems.
Rapid runoff from rural parts of river catchments can pollute downstream water bodies by transmitting sediment, agricultural fertiliser, or other pollutants from extensive diffuse sources, and can also lead to downstream flooding. Environmental managers often try to mitigate these problems by encouraging interventions, such as changes in farming practice or the construction of physical obstacles, which delay runoff from rural catchments. DU geographers have worked with stakeholders to develop a family of flexible user-friendly computer modelling tools which predict and map the likely critical sources of pollution or flooding and the downstream locations that are most at risk. This helps environmental managers target the best locations for intervention and compare the effects of alternative interventions. The software tools have been used by regulatory bodies (e.g. the Environment Agency) and NGOs (e.g. Rivers Trusts) to plan mitigation works and benefit local communities and the environment in many parts of England.
Research conducted at the Geoenvironmental Research Centre (GRC), supported by the European Commission via its EURATOM programme, has been instrumental in addressing the long standing global problem of high level nuclear waste disposal. The pioneering development of a sophisticated coupled thermal/hydraulic/chemical/mechanical model of clay behaviour has provided new understanding of the performance of engineered barriers proposed for use in nuclear waste repositories. This has, in an unprecedented development, directly enabled the design of numerous nuclear waste repositories to proceed. The repositories in Sweden and Finland are currently at "Licence application" and "Construction" phases, respectively. Therefore the impacts claimed during the REF period are: significant impact on engineering design, leading to improved environmental conditions; considerable economic investment and marked impact on public policy and services.
Our research and resulting impacts extend across a wide range of flooding problems, from localised urban floods to river bas in flooding. The under pinning research ranges from extending the evidence base, to improved rainfall estimates, and to advances in hydrological and hydraulic models. The impact of our research has been through the creation and application of new methodologies (e.g. AOFD) and software tools (e.g., TSRSim) for the design and analysis of flood management systems in the UK and internationally, via joint projects with consulting engineering companies, and through the influence of our research on national and regional policies towards improved land use management practices (e.g., Glastir, Wales).
Improved flood risk modelling based on the application of research led by Keith Beven at Lancaster has had global impacts in improved flood defence policies and planning by governments, and in assisting insurers with their underwriting (for example in pricing and policy decisions). The benefits are not just financial — they are human too: improved understanding of flood risk and resilience protects life and assets, and has a positive impact on the well-being of many of those at risk. These impacts are at the centre of flood risk management across the UK, are being applied in nine other European countries, and now becoming the methods of choice for flood mapping in developing countries such as Thailand.
The intensification of food production, fossil fuel combustion and water consumption has led to substantial increases in the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus flushed from land to water. The accumulation of these nutrients in freshwaters, estuaries and the coastal zone has led to reductions in biodiversity, the loss of ecosystem services, and compromised water security. The UK is a signatory to a raft of international conventions and policies which require reductions in the flux of nutrients from land to the water and restoration of ecosystem health and services. To meet these obligations, policymakers need information on the scale of the problem, the sources of nutrients and the effectiveness of intervention measures.
Research in the Unit has directly addressed this need. It has provided robust scientific evidence of the scale of the problem and the sources of nutrient enrichment, and has provided the capability to test intervention and policy scenarios at field to national scales. It has fed directly into the development of monitoring approaches and mitigation measures now in use by the Environment Agency (EA) and Defra, informed the development of UK Government policy in relation to catchment management, and supported compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive, the renegotiation of the Gothenburg Protocol under the International Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and reporting on discharges of nutrient pollution to the North East Atlantic under the OSPAR Convention.
This work helps the UK and Ireland fulfil their statutory duties to assess and improve the state of freshwater ecosystems. EU legislation requires all water bodies to be managed sustainably to achieve a state close to that of the water body in its natural state. Research in Geography at Newcastle has pioneered the use of diatoms (microscopic algae) in lakes and rivers to describe the ecological characteristics of this natural state and developed models and software that allow deviation from this state to be assessed. The model and database are used by all water agencies in the UK and Republic of Ireland to fulfil their statutory requirements and have led to new environmental standards that indicate that over 40% of the total length of UK rivers is at risk from elevated phosphorus concentrations.
This case study concerns the impact of interdisciplinary research on policies and practices to support river restoration and the aims of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), which requires member states to bring riverine hydromorphology and ecology to 'good' status by 2015, measured against a reference condition. The research achieved impact through an evolving process of co-production, in that academics engaged with user communities from the outset. Richards, Hughes and Horn (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge) worked closely with users to design a knowledge transfer guidebook to communicate restoration science to users.
This was distributed amongst Environment Agency (EA) staff to aid the planning and implementation of restoration projects. Further impacts included promoting floodplain restoration for flood risk management (Richards, as a member of an EA Regional Flood and Coastal Commitee); a rapid assessment method for river quality (Richards and Horn) that forms the basis of cross-boundary WFD compliance practices across the whole of Ireland; and knowledge transfer of EU WFD ecological assessment practices to China (Richards).
Research by the University of Southampton into river processes and restoration has contributed significantly to the adoption of fluvial geomorphology as a tool for river management. The research quantified for the first time, the cost of sediment management in rivers to the UK economy and environment, arguing that improvements could be achieved by applying fluvial geomorphology. The research developed new evidence, tools and training that were adopted by river management agencies and consultants for the scoping, assessment and planning of projects. This has resulted in cost-savings through reduced river maintenance, improved river environments, and the creation of a new employment market for graduates with geomorphological training.