NFMCumbria
Strategic Investigation of Natural Flood Management in Cumbria (Rivers Trust Life-IP)
Jun 2016 to May 2017
Natural Flood Management (NFM) has the potential to enhance the flood regulating capacity of a catchment, alongside the provision of a wide range of other services that are not associated with traditional hard defences. JBA Consulting (in association with Lancaster University) were commissioned by the Rivers Trust (project lead: David Johnson) to investigate the strategic potential for NFM at the whole catchment scale in a tiered approach driven by catchment partners. The study was designed to produce a set of strategic catchment scale maps to highlight the opportunities and benefits of NFM based on distributed modelling for the three Cumbrian catchments of the Kent, Eden and Derwent within the Life-IP project area.
This study has investigated NFM in a tiered approach across the Eden, Kent and Derwent catchments in Cumbria, to help prioritise where different NFM measures are likely to be more effective. Commencing with rapid overland flow modelling approach using a 2 m resolution 2d JFLOW model, a screening was undertaken to identify where modification of features in the landscape to slow and store surface water flows might make the most difference. These included Runoff Attenuation Features (RAFs), tree-planting, and soil structure improvements. Following a stakeholder workshop with catchment partners, these opportunities were refined and sub-catchments were prioritised for more detailed modelling using Dynamic TOPMODEL. The JFLOW models were re-run, and the benefits were re-computed and summarised in a suite of interactive maps that can be used, along with a User Guide, to help inform decisions at the wider catchment scale. Some of the research for the project was including within our winning entry to the Defra Flood Risk Management and Modelling Competition
Funding sources
Rivers Trust via JBA subcontract (EAA7437)
Investigators
Barry Hankin (Overall PI at JBA), Ian Craigen (JBA), Nick A Chappell (Lancaster PI), Trevor Page and Peter Metcalfe.
Project Publications
Hankin, B., Metcalfe, P., Johnson, D., Chappell, N.A., Page, T., Craigen, I., Lamb, R. and Beven, K. 2017. Strategies for testing the impact of natural flood risk management measures. In: Flood Risk Management. Hromadka, T. and Rao, P. (eds) InTech (open access CC BY 3.0 license). ISBN 978-953-51-3465-7. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.68677. 1-39. view online or view paper (pdf).
Hankin, B., Lamb, R., Craigen, I., Chappell, N., Page, T., Metcalfe, P. 2017. A whole catchment approach to improve flood resilience in the Eden: Winning entry to the Defra Floods Competition 2016. January 2017. download winning entry.
Hankin, B., Craigen, I., Chappell, N.A., Page, T. and Metcalfe, P. 2016. Rivers Trust Life-IP Natural Course Project: Strategic Investigation of Natural Flood Management in Cumbria. Technical Report. JBA Consulting and Lancaster Environment Centre. download report OR information sheet.