Identifying FIO sources: monitoring techniques and sampling strategies
Review of monitoring techniques and sampling strategies to identify the most significant sources of Faecal Indicator Organisms (FIO) within a catchment
SEPA plan to use “blitz” monitoring to get a picture of water quality across catchments where there are multiple sources of faecal pollution to Bathing Water Protected Areas (BWPA) and Shellfish Water Protected Areas (SWPA). This is envisaged to involve FIO sampling across the river network to identify the area of influence, and trace FIO hotspots and types of sources within the area of influence. However, blitz monitoring is faced with a wide range of challenges, such as monitoring resource limitations, regulatory requirements for storage time and analytical procedures, and limited understanding where the area of influence (i.e. the part of the river catchment in which diffuse and point FIO pollution sources can influence water quality in BWPA and SWPA) and FIO hotspots are located. Addressing these challenges is essential for addressing the impacts of catchment-based faecal pollution to BWPA and SWPA.
This report provides a literature review summarising best available evidence on the timing of FIO discharges, in-stream FIO variability, FIO pollution risk, FIO monitoring and detection technologies. Further, the report details the desktop approach developed by the research team to identify potential FIO hotspots and provides recommendations for a practical monitoring strategy to identify the area of influence to BWPA and SWPA, and to track FIO from different FIO hotspots and types of sources within it.
A three-phased approach was recommended based on the requirements of SEPA:
Phase 1: Identify area of influence and FIO hotspots therein: Apply a toolkit approach integrating desktop studies, field monitoring and modelling.
Phase 2: Assess in-stream FIO spatial and temporal variability: Apply membrane filtration techniques and flow cytometry in the lab or use of mobile labs (e.g. Colitag) or continuous monitoring devices (e.g. ALERT – E.coli Analyser) concurrently with measurement of turbidity, temperature and flow.
Phase 3: Elucidate/ confirm predominant types of sources (i.e. human vs animal): Apply microarray, qPCR of genetic markers or flow cytometry for MST to track predominant FIO sources at sites influenced by diffuse FIO sources or mixed land use.
On World Water Day 2019 the Hydro Nation International Centre and Centre of Expertise for Water (CREW) hosted a conference on "Resilience to Drought and Low Flow Conditions in Scotland", an event supported by the Scottish Government.
Scientists, engineers, planners and managers shared their observations, experiences, research outcomes, and innovative ideas on building resilience and adapting to low flows and drought conditions from a Scottish perspective. The Short and Full reports from this event can be found here.
Managing flood risk in the context of the climate emergency (SNIFFER FRM 2020)
Managing flood risk in the context of the climate emergency (30-31st January 2020)
This year the SNIFFER conference explored what the climate emergency means for Flood Risk Management with contributions from youth climate strikers as well as policy and planning experts from the public sector. Click here for the conference report. As part of the event, CREW coordinated a thought-provoking and action-orientated ‘Spark’ talk session that highlighted research innovation in Flood Risk Management. This blog captured the key points.
Many areas of Great Britain were badly affected by flooding over a fourteen-week period in the winter of 2015/2016. The flooding had considerable impacts on numerous communities, including private homes, business premises, transport infrastructure and agricultural land.
In Scotland, in early December 2015, severe flooding affected the south of the country with Hawick and Dumfries both badly affected. Late December saw further periods of heavy rainfall that brought more flooding to the South of Scotland, badly affecting Peebles and Newton Stewart. Severe flooding also affected the North-East of Scotland in late December 2015 and early January 2016. Some flooding was experienced in Aberdeen city, but most flooding and associated disruption was experienced around Aberdeenshire, in small towns, villages and the open countryside.
In response to the severe flooding experienced in North-east Scotland during the winter of 2015/16, the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) commissioned project to;
- develop a better understanding of the long-term impacts of flooding upon people and communities; and
- identify and understand what types of support and advice are needed at different stages of the recovery process.
The research was conducted over a three-year period in Ballater and Garioch, gaining new insights about the long-term impacts of flooding on people and communities. These insights informed several considerations for enhancing flood-risk management (before, during, and after a flood), and highlighted how personal and community resilience may be supported.
Assessing the effectiveness of environmental improvement measures
This output is part of a project titled 'Assessing the effectiveness of environmental improvement measures - developing a toolkit to rank success and inform policy.'
The report provides a recommendation to SEWeb for a decision aiding approach to assess the effectiveness of existing and future measures, as required by the SEWeb EU LIFE project. A shortlist of decision aiding approaches were examined including: Decision Conferencing; Structured Decision Making; Strategic Choice Approach; and Multicriteria Mapping. Based on a set of criteria and the decision aiding approaches reviewed, Multicriteria Mapping was selected and a phased series of trials of Multicriteria Mapping was carried out, including familiarisation, testing and end user interviews. Multicriteria Mapping was deemed as being very useful for assessing the effectiveness of existing and future measures.
The report contains a summary of the approaches reviewed and why Multicriteria Mapping was chosen for further trials. A longer 'tool kit' overview of Multicriteria Mapping and a Multicriteria Mapping Manual are provided in the report appendices.
Communities at Risk of Flooding and their Attitudes towards Natural Flood Management (NFM)
This study looks at what communities at risk of flooding know and feel about Natural Flood Management (NFM). NFM can involve a variety of tools to slow down or store floodwater such as restoring natural river channels, removing flood embankments, planting trees along riverbanks, and blocking upland drains. NFM is a key part of sustainable flood risk management, so understanding attitudes to NFM can help develop approaches for engaging communities in flood risk management. Following background research, the project team contacted four communities around Scotland to arrange discussion groups and visited each of them in early 2019. The project explored their views on NFM, as well as their experience of flooding, and their communications with flood risk authorities.
The study found that there was general interest in NFM. Therefore, community attitudes to NFM are not necessarily a barrier to developing new NFM schemes. Indeed, the discussion groups were generally keen for all aspects of sustainable flood risk management, including NFM, to be considered during planning so that their risk of flooding might be reduced. People were familiar with specific examples of NFM (e.g. woody dams, restoring floodplains, slowing the flow) and identified how NFM schemes may deliver other benefits, such as increased biodiversity or amenity value. However, community members often lack awareness of what a full NFM scheme might involve, including the complexity and uncertainties associated with planning and implementing NFM at a catchment scale. Consequently, people would welcome more information, which could include visits to an existing NFM site or developing a local pilot study, and constructive involvement in flood management planning and implementation.
Scepticism about NFM tended to derive from lack of trust in the processes for planning and delivery of flood risk management schemes in general, rather than reservations specific to NFM. There was a common perception that responsible agencies could work together to more effectively communicate with communities around flood risk management planning. Strengthening community engagement could help in developing and sustaining working relationships with communities at risk of flooding, and so in implementing all aspects of sustainable flood risk management.
Native oyster beds (Ostrea edulis) are one of the most endangered marine habitats in Europe, with associated population losses of over 95%, mainly due to overfishing in the 19th and early 20th century. The loss of this keystone species has also meant a loss of oyster reef habitat for other shell and fin fish, and a loss of key ecosystem services for filtration and sequestration of pollutants.
The Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) project is restoring 40 hectares of native oyster reef off the shore at Dornoch, to provide a bioengineering solution to treatment at the Glenmorangie Distillery at Tian. As part of the overall project, DEEP is sourcing native oysters and this has already helped to overcome both known challenges to aquaculture of native oysters and identified barriers to setting up a shellfish supply chain.
This project set out to answer three research questions:
- What are the benefits of native oyster restoration in Scotland in terms of provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services?
- What are the wider applications and opportunities arising from initiatives such as Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) which inform the potential restoration of native oyster beds?
- What is the potential for economic growth and in meeting wider policy objectives?
Quantifying rates of urban creep in Scotland
Urban creep, the process of converting gardens and other vegetated areas (which help to soak up rain), to built-up surfaces (which are impervious), is an important factor affecting surface water flood risk. This project aimed to answer the question, what are the typical rates of urban creep for selected urban areas in Scotland? The project developed a method to map urban creep and applied it to aerial photography for Edinburgh for 1990, 2005 and 2015. This allowed the first city-wide estimates of urban creep to be produced for Scotland.
The report provides new quantitative data on the extent of urban creep in Edinburgh. One of the main project findings is that the average annual rate of urban creep in Edinburgh (around buildings and their gardens and grounds), between 1990 and 2015, is 6.44ha/year. This is equivalent to losing over eight football pitches of vegetated land per year.
Prevention-led approach to the delivery of good drinking water quality
The aim of this project was to collate evidence related to prevention-led approaches within catchments, that was of relevance to Scotland and the benefits that they could bring to safeguarding drinking water supplies. This project sought views, nationally and from other EU (and international) countries, on how or what they have learnt from implementing a prevention-led approach. A project workshop focussed on two key pressures on Scottish drinking water supplies: organics (e.g. Dissolved Organic Carbon) and Taste and odour issues. The project outputs include information on the long listing exercise of potential cases which fitted the project criteria and detailed case study templates for the four short-listed cases.
River Leven Catchment Initiative: Synthesis of current knowledge to help identify environmental management priorities to improve the water environment
The main aim of the study was to review and synthesise current knowledge relating to the water environment within the River Leven catchment, including the condition of its rivers, lochs and groundwater.
The study addressed six main research questions.
- What is the current condition of all rivers, lochs and ground waters in the River Leven catchment, based on available information?
- What are the main pressures on the aquatic environment and the sources of those pressures?
- What are the environmental management priorities for improving the water environment?
- What is the baseline socio-economic condition of the River Leven catchment?
- What is the current condition of Loch Leven and its catchment, and how have improvements supported socio-economic development?
- What are the gaps in evidence and how can they be addressed?
All available water quality, hydromorphological and ecological data for the River Leven catchment were reviewed to identify water bodies that fail to meet Water Framework Directive (WFD) and conservation targets and could be improved through targeted management interventions. In addition, SIMD data were used to identify areas where high deprivation coincided with areas where water quality improvements are required to meet WFD and conservation objectives. The results are presented as maps and tables.
The output from this project provides a “first-pass” assessment of understanding of the River Leven catchment. It is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all of the data and information available. Draft environmental priorities are suggested for further consideration.
Pages
