Water is a resource on which all life depends. Yet, across the planet, 30 per cent of people do not have access to clean water. Our scientists seek to understand the complex factors that affect the availability and quality of water resources now and into the future, from local to global scales.
Essential science for the water industry
A holistic approach to environmental challenges
Our water resources and hydro-climate specialists work with scientists studying pollution, land use, soils and biodiversity to solve complex environmental problems in a holistic way.
Meeting national strategic needs
We play a key role in meeting national strategic needs, for example:
- We provide the industry standard method for assessing flood risk in the UK through the Flood Estimation Handbook.
- We curate the nation’s river flow data and analyse this to provide near real-time information on the state of UK water resources.
- Our Land Cover Map is widely used for assessing past and present land cover across the UK.
- We carry out field monitoring and experimentation, laboratory analysis and predictive modelling to quantify the presence and impact of environmental contaminants.
Our activities provide the state of-the-art environmental data that industries, government agencies and regulators need to manage the UK’s freshwater environment.
Floods
Our expertise spans flood forecasting, natural flood management, flood estimation, and building resilience to climate change.
Droughts
We offer support with monitoring droughts and their impacts, building resilience to droughts, and predicting the consequences of droughts.
Water resources
Our capabilities include monitoring water availability and seasonal water availability forecasting.
Water quality
Our freshwater science covers nutrients and algae, emerging contaminants, microplastics, pathogens and organic pollutants.
Catchment management
We have expertise in lake restoration, land cover mapping, dissolved organic matter, and measuring natural capital.
Freshwater ecology
We offer support with monitoring and managing river health and lake reservoir ecosystems, and with mapping and managing invasive species.
Reservoir management
We provide data and solutions to drive effective reservoir water management practice.
Research facilities
Our state-of-the-art facilities play a vital role in our water science.
Partnerships
Our strategic partnerships cross borders, sectors and disciplines.
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