Flood hydrology roadmap published

On 22 March 2022, the Environment Agency published a roadmap which sets out a 25-year vision for flood hydrology across all four countries of the UK, accompanied by an action plan detailing how this vision will be achieved. 

The roadmap considers all sources of inland flooding, including fluvial, pluvial and sewers, groundwater and reservoirs, while further examining all inland flood hydrology activities in the UK, from operational practice to scientific research. Development of the roadmap has been driven by:

• the scale of investment, of around £6 billion over the next six years, that flood hydrology data, methods, models and expertise underpin
• the need to support the implementation of flood risk management strategies across the UK
• the need to improve partnership working and collaboration across the UK flood hydrology community
• the need to improve the translation of science into practice
• the need to deal with known limitations and issues in existing operational flood hydrology methods
• the need for flood hydrology to account for and predict the impacts of future climate and land use change
• the opportunity for flood hydrology to contribute to net-zero carbon targets 

The Environment Agency has led the roadmap project, but the roadmap itself has been developed by, and intended for, the UK flood hydrology community, for the next 25 years and it is believed:

• in this time, society will have improved hydrological information and understanding to manage flood hazard in a changing world
• flood hydrology and whole system process understanding will be underpinned by excellent evidence with quantified uncertainty
• leadership and collaboration will be crucial to achieving this vision

The Environment Agency report the successful long-term delivery of the UK flood hydrology roadmap vision will require strong leadership and improved partnership working and collaboration across the flood hydrology community, with the estimated funding required to implement the roadmap costing between £110 million and £165 million over the next 25 years. 

Source: Environment Agency, 22 March 2022