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13th May 2019

Topo-bathymetric LiDAR in support of hydromorphological assessment, river restoration and flood risk management

CREW_topo-bathymetric LiDAR

This project evaluated topo-bathymetric LiDAR* data for the Rivers Dee and Garry by assessing performance in terms of:

  1. accuracy
  2. spatial resolution (point density)
  3. completeness of data and
  4. measurement of water depth.

The research also considered aspects relating to the quality of the provided datasets.  This report discusses the outcomes of these investigations and discusses factors influencing the 2 results. In addition, consideration is given to the potential
of topo-bathymetric LiDAR for classifying river typology, characterising hydromorphology and for supporting hydrodynamic modelling applications. These are criticalactivities in terms of water body condition assessment and management. The specific research questions that this report responds to are:  

  1. What are the strengths and limitations of topo-bathymetric LiDAR?
  2. Can this technology be used to improve river typology classification?
  3. Is it possible to derive detailed hydromorphological assessments?
  4. What is the potential for supporting 2D hydrodynamic modelling?

The main findings presented in this study can be summarized as follows:

  1. Topo-bathymetric LiDAR worked well for the River Dee where near-complete coverage of the river bed and good coverage of the water surface were achieved. This is likely due to good bed reflectance (gravel bed), combined with favourable water clarity. Due to very low flow conditions at the River Garry, performance was limited. This reinforces the need to evaluate likely success at potential sites prior to survey commission. 
  2. Topo-bathymetric LiDAR was found to offer a similar accuracy and precision to conventional topographic LiDAR, with a mean discrepancy of 0.04 m. The mean error of the water surface and bed points was between 0.04 and 0.07 m. 
  3. Topo-bathymetric LiDAR can provide good coverage of the river bed. For the River Dee, >95 % of the river bed was captured. The measured spatial resolution (point density) of bed points here is 15 points/m (single flightline). This is very similar to the spatial resolution of points over dry terrain. 
  4. Use of a single green laser produces relatively few returns from the water surface compared to the river bed, and the coverage of water surface returns is highly variable. Automated identification of water surface points is still very challenging, particularly for complex topography (e.g. River Garry), but is important in order to enable refraction correction. This is one of the current limiting aspects to a more automated and reliable workflow. 
  5. Depths shallower than approximately 8 cm cannot be measured because the signals from the water surface and river bed cannot be distinguished. This is a fundamental limitation of most commercial LiDAR systems. The Riegl VQ-880-G instrument used here has been designed with a very short laser pulse duration to minimise this effect.
  6. Topo-bathymetric LiDAR can contribute to various river management tasks including assessment of existing morphological typology and identification of hydromorphological features. While this was assessed here in a theoretical manner, it should be achievable through basic interrogation of LiDAR data in combination with expert hydromorphological input. More automated classification is feasible, but the effort required to reliably achieve this should not be underestimated.
  7. Topo-bathymetric LiDAR offers potential to enhance hydrodynamic models – e.g. for flood risk and mesohabitat modelling. Such models currently rely on field surveyed cross-section data (or approximations) to represent the channel. Provision of a combined channel and floodplain DEM will allow models to be parameterised with more reliable and continuous topographic information. 
  8. It is challenging to coordinate topo-bathymetric LiDAR surveys with ‘ideal’ flow conditions. Flows which are too too low will cause difficulties due to very shallow depths (e.g. River Garry). Conversely, higher flows may produce more turbulent conditions, which present challenges for capturing the water surface and possibly also the bed. ‘Average’ flow conditions (e.g. Q50 discharge) are most conducive to successful capture. 

*LiDAR is a surveying method which is often used to create high-resolution maps. It measures distance to a target by illuminating the target with pulsed laser light and measuring the reflected pulses with a sensor

 
17th April 2019

Key barriers to the adoption of innovation in water and wastewater service provision

Key barriers to the adoption of innovation in water and wastewater service provision; Cover photographs courtesy of:  a. By Rasbak - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, \  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index php?curid=722080 b. Modified from photo with copyright Stanley Howe, licensed under Creative Commons License;   https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2952918 c. Uig, Isle of Skye, by Shasta Marrero – used with permission.

The aim of the research was to identify barriers faced by private developers in the provision of innovations in water and wastewater services and to provide recommendations to enhance innovation in building and managing water and wastewater assets.  In order to achieve this aim, the project team carried out a detailed literature review using data and information sourced from academic and grey literature to identify barriers to adoption of innovation in water and wastewater service provision. This was
accompanied by collection and review of information obtained from key stakeholders and developers. Scottish Water guidance documents provided to developers were reviewed to identify where barriers to innovation may exist within the guidance. A survey of developers was carried out to gain direct feedback from private sector actors on barriers to innovation. A meeting with the Scottish Water asset vesting team was held to discuss any key issues. 

The literature finds that the drivers for the adoption of innovation in water and wastewater services are typically top town (regulator or utility drivers) or bottom up (community or consumer driven), whereas the developers or private sector supply chain typically takes a conservative approach to innovation. The reasons for this can be linked to the barriers to adoption of innovation in water and wastewater services, largely applicable across the construction sector. 

These barriers include:

  • Lack of internal/external financial resources to fund innovations
  • Lack of human resources to navigate innovation landscape, including certification and approvals processes
  • Lack of financial incentive to innovate, benefits are transferred to end user
  • Risk-averse behaviours, technology risks associated with water quality and public health
  • Procurement systems and regulatory environment that limit the market for innovations

The review has also identified recommendations for overcoming some of these key barriers in order to increase the uptake of innovation by private developers across the water sector. This includes encouraging organisations to strategically plan for innovation, building up internal  capacity, and leveraging support of external stakeholders  such as the utility. The utility will be a primary beneficiary of innovation particularly for technological solutions that extend the lifespan of infrastructure and improve quality of service provision. Therefore, utilities have a major role to play in supporting private sector actors to engage in innovation. This could be assisted by closer direct working in the innovation process, including greater knowledge sharing
and collaborative practices, or improved procurement systems that do not discourage innovation. Collaboration would also include the shared use of enabling technologies and sharing data (e.g. sensors and monitoring, use of visualisation and modelling techniques) that can help to reduce elements of risk within the innovation process. 

The drive to improve water and wastewater service provision in remote areas, provides challenges to both utilities and private sector developers. Literature indicates that there is a trend towards remunicipalisation of decentralised systems elsewhere, as a result of poor technology performance or service provision. Innovative approaches and technologies could assist in overcoming some of these issues, but to be effective will require a more collaborative approach. In prioritising innovation with regards to small water and wastewater systems, enabling factors can include prioritising the market (e.g. focus on unserviced areas), government or utility support to overcome financial barriers and help to align value and risk chains, involvement of the utility in technology selection within the planning framework, and engagement with communities to raise awareness and educate end users on the capabilities and risks of technology choices. Innovation champions across stakeholder groups can be important to driving change, providing support, and ensuring collaborative approaches are adopted.

12th April 2019

CREW Policy and Research Meeting on Flooding and Coastal Erosion

Twice a year, CREW brings together all relevant stakeholders of each of the four strategic work themes to discuss strategic as well as project-specific questions and to exchange on key aspects related to the theme, including recent scientific and policy developments. On 22nd March 2019 CREW held the biannual meeting for the Flooding and Coastal Erosion theme at Discovery Point in Dundee.
 
The purpose of the meeting was to share information on policy developments; to raise awareness of relevant, underpinning work with the Strategic Research Programme, and; to identify cross-
organisational priorities for CREW projects in 2019-20. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Natural
Heritage (SNH), Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland (BioSS), Scotland’s Centre of Expertise on Climate Change (CXC) and the James Hutton Institute. The meeting started off with a roundtable discussion on policy developments and new CREW project ideas under the Flooding and Coastal Erosion theme. Updates were then provided for four current CREW projects.
 
Nikki Dodd from CREW presented the second-year findings of the impacts of the winter 2015/2016 flooding project on the communities of Ballater and Garioch on behalf of Lorna Philip (University of Aberdeen) and Mags Currie (James Hutton Institute). The report details recommendations made by affected individuals about insurance, personal wellbeing, resilience, and preparedness, improved communication between key institutions and by such institutions with the communities, and increased community resilience and sociality. The subsequent presentation provided an update on the work of Clare Rowland, Paul Scholefield, Aneurin O’Neil and James Miller (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology), in mapping the spatial extent and rate at which urban creep has affected the city of Edinburgh.  The team have identified ‘paving over’ of the equivalent of 9 football pitches of vegetated land per year between 1990 and 2015, giving way to parking space or housing developments.  This reduction in soil permeability exacerbates run-off which proves a heavy burden on urban drainage systems and, crucially, resilience to floods in an increasingly unpredictable and volatile climate.
Mark Wilkinson, Flood Risk Management Scientist at the James Hutton Institute, presented a project looking into public perceptions of Natural Flood Management at the community level. Results from initial focus group interviews in Menstries, Aviemore, and Peterculter indicate general support for Natural Flood Management (NFM), while also showing a sense that responsible agencies could engage more effectively and consistently around flood risk management. The final presentation described how evidence has been collected on prevention-led approaches within catchments designed to safeguard drinking water.  The project team identified a long list of cases internationally, reviewed current best practice in four selected cases and hosted a workshop with policy makers and representatives from the case sites. A final project report is currently being produced.
In the second part of the meeting, Marc Stutter from the James Hutton Institute gave a general update on the Strategic Research Programme [SRP] before BioSS and James Hutton Institute staff gave an overview of project status and recent developments in different work packages of the SRP. The first set of presentations focused on studies around water resources and flood risk management, while the second set discussed projects that deal with integrated and sustainable management of natural assets.
 
After these presentations, participants travelled to nearby Balruddery Farm to view and discuss water management and other measures adopted there.  Balruddery Farm is owned and managed by the James Hutton Institute and is the site of the Centre for Sustainable Cropping Platform. The farm platform is the first of its scale in the UK and provides an open research facility to test and demonstrate the economic, ecological and environmental trade-offs in sustainable land management over many decades.

 

 
2nd April 2019

Impacts of winter 2015/2016 flooding in and around Ballater and in the Garioch: Project Year 2 Summary

The purpose of the Assessing the Long-term Impacts of Flooding on People and Communities project is to better understand the long-term impacts of flooding upon people and communities and to consider what types of support and advice people and communities need at different stages of a long-term recovery. Over a 36 month period, the project is advancing our understanding of these long-term impacts, contributes to better flood risk management and makes suggestions as to how personal and community resilience may be supported and enhanced.

Two communities in Aberdeenshire affected by flooding in December 2015/ January 2016 are the focus of the research, one of which has repeatedly experienced flooding, one of which had little prior experience of flooding. The Ballater area, in upper Deeside, experienced severe flooding for the first time in many years in late December 2015, flooding that was largely unexpected and which had a widespread impact on the community. The Garioch area, specifically Port Elphinstone and Kintore, on the River Don, has experienced many flood events and was badly flooded in early January 2016. In Year One of the project three distinct yet complimentary data collections elements were undertaken: a Household Survey, conducted in both case study areas; a Business Survey, conducted in both case study areas; and interviews with residents and business owners/ managers in both case study areas, including interviews with those who were and were not directly affected by the Winter 2015/16 flooding. Findings from these three elements of data collection were presented, in three separate reports, to the project Steering Group in late 2017. A short report summarising Year One activities and key findings was published by CREW in early 2018. In Project Year Two a second round of interviews were conducted with householders and business owners/ managers in Ballater and Garioch. This report presents an overview of findings from the Project Year Two interviews. Another report will follow at the end of the 36 month project period.

You can find the first report of this project here

27th March 2019

World Water Day 2019

Image showing the Conference
Every year on 22nd of March, we celebrate World Water Day. This year, The Centre for Expertise on Waters (CREW) and the James Hutton Institute, with the financial support of the Scottish Government, and in partnership with the University of Stirling and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, organised an event around this year’s UN theme of “Leaving No one Behind”.

Discussions focused in particular on “Resilience to Drought and Low Flow Conditions in Scotland”. The event welcomed key stakeholder representatives, government officials, academics and emerging scientists from the Hydro Nation Scholars Programme.

The first part of the event focused on presentation from scientists, stakeholder groups and government representatives, discussing various issues and strategies around drought and drought management in the UK and Scotland in particular. With recent warnings from scientists and policy-makers that England would be suffering considerable effects from droughts within the next 25 years, and periodic droughts that affected Scotland over the last couple of years, there was a lot of discussion about this timely topic.  

Stephen Turner from the Wallingford Centre for Ecology & Hydrology presented on monitoring and early warning systems to support enhanced resilience to drought across the UK. A number of presentations focused on droughts in Scotland over recent years – Mark Hunter of Scottish Water discussed response strategies to ensure as little impact as possible on end users, while Rebecca Millar of Citizens Advice Scotland presented research outputs regarding end users of private water supplies and what could be done to improve resilience to drought and other climate change impacts on water scarcity and quality for private water supplies end users. Further, the impact of drought and low flow conditions on key water-dependent Scottish industries was discussed. Hamish Moir of cbec and Chris Conroy of the Ness Salmon Fishery Board presented the particular context of Salmon migration and nesting, and how Scottish salmon populations are threatened by rising water temperatures and low-level water flow, affecting the salmon’s ability to migrate, and sometimes bringing even lethal consequences. Creating and re-storing wetlands may be a key strategy to alleviate some of this risk to Scottish salmon, and simultaneously enhancing resilience to both droughts and floods. Paul Hammett, Water Specialist at the National Farmers Union presented on resilience and adaptation strategies introduced over recent years: In particular, the soil bank, and more recently, the water bank, allows farmers across a larger region to exchange soil/manure, or water, thereby reducing impacts of regional climate effects for farmers. Ronald Daalmans from Chivas Brothers shared insights into the particular challenges the Whisky industry faces in times of drought and low flow conditions.
After a final presentation by Scott Mcgrane of Fraser of Allander Institute on the future challenges of environmental change on water as an economic resource in Scotland, the participants split up into three discussion groups, focusing on three key topics at the policy-research nexus:

  1. Resilience planning and adaptation strategies
  2. Emerging issues for drought and low flow conditions and
  3. Enhanced monitoring through technical innovation and citizen science.

The results of these expert discussions will be published in a report in early summer. 

Closing remarks were given by Jon Rathjen, Head of the Water Industry Team at the Scottish Government, putting the day’s discussions into the context of a long-term vision for Scotland as a HydroNation, by not only continuing to develop innovative solutions to both drought and flooding in Scotland and internationally, but also by capitalising on this great resource that Scotland has in abundance. He alerted everyone present to not only focus on the specific remedies to specific problems, - but also to think of water, and Scotland’s expertise in managing waters, as the great potential that lies within for both Scottish industries and Scottish people, all the while ensuring the long-term sustainability and protection of the precious resource that is water.

A Short Report and the Full Report are available.

22nd March 2019

Scotland’s contribution to international water policy and research (Report)

On World Water Day in 2018, we held a workshop exploring Scotland’s contribution to international water policy development and research needs. This workshop brought together Scottish academics, practitioners and policy makers to share experiences in promoting the UN Sustainable Development Goal: “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” (SDG 6).

Barriers to implementation and recommendations to enable and accelerate progress towards achieving SDG 6 were discussed in four thematic breakout sessions:

  1. Waste Water Treatment Systems
  2. Water Resources Water Quality and Quality
  3. Drinking Water Supply and Technologies
  4. Future water challenges facing water 

Common high level outcomes and recommendations were identified across the four themes including:

  1. Appropriate data acquisition and reporting of the SDG 6 status; capacity building, and effective mechanisms to get research into practice. 
  2. Governance systems are  generally constrained by sectoral interests (i.e. top down and poorly connected to local needs). There should be improved training of water managers etc in how to use data in decision making  and policy development. Need to review weak legal frameworks.
  3. Knowledge and engagement with communities is the key to successfully attaining SDG 6 and achieving the behavioural change.
  4. Effective drinking water and waste water technologies need to be simple, with low infrastructure and maintenance costs and low energy inputs.

As a result, it was recommended that the Scottish Government seek support from the science community to achieve and monitor SDGs. This will open new challenges for research, partnerships, and opportunities to find solutions to complex development challenges. 

 

22nd March 2019

Our most precious resource - water!

Today on World Water Day, we focus our minds on the world’s most precious resource. Without it there would be no life on Earth- it is as simple as that. No humans, animals, plants, microbes, and no rain, clouds, rivers or oceans. We are indeed a blue planet, unique (so far!) floating in space.

But the statistics on what we are doing to this precious resource are just staggering;
•    Every minute a new born child dies from a water-based infection;
•    Over 30% of the world’s schools don’t have access to clean water;
•    We produce six times more wastewater than the discharge from all the worlds rivers;
•    The freshwater species extinction rate is five times that of terrestrial systems;
•    70% of industrial discharges in developing countries are discharged untreated into water courses;
•    Runoff from agri-chemicals is polluting groundwater, surface waters and ocean around the globe and is on the increase.

But perhaps the most indicative fact of where we are as a global population in our relationship with water is that across the world more people have access to a mobile phone than have access to a toilet!
Even understanding the importance of water globally we still treat it with an incredible disregard. Our ever-increasing demands place an enormous pressure on our water resources across the globe. With a burgeoning population, the demand for water in food production and the uncertainty of climate change we all need to look carefully at our attitude to water and the way it is used and managed. In Scotland, we are lucky enough to live in a water rich country, but we are also very aware of recent episodes over the last few years when either we have too much or too little water, and the disruption that has caused. The Scottish Government Hydro Nation agenda has placed duties on Ministers to protect and enhance our water resources, and it is the first country in the world to do so and provide a framework of sustainable management which is being promoted both at home and overseas.
The James Hutton Institute is deeply embedded in delivering that vision. We lead the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW), host the Hydro Nation Scholars and International Fellow Programmes and the European funded Water Test Network which helps to bring new water technology to the market place. We also undertake a programme of water-based research in support of Scottish Government’s strategic research programme.  Internationally, you may be aware of the innovative, interdisciplinary project providing a sustainable low carbon treatment system to pupils and staff in Berambadi school, Karnataka. I would encourage you to watch the short video made by the team, which can be found here. In addition, the Institute also has other water-based projects with partners across Europe, India, China, Pakistan and Sub-Saharan Africa. 
Today, it is also fantastic to announce the establishment of the Hydro Nation International Centre, supported by the Macaulay Development Trust, at the Craigiebuckler campus of the James Hutton Institute. This will provide significant added value to our on-going activities and act as a focus for our international work, innovation, training and skills development.
Further, on World Water Day we are delighted to support Scottish Water’s “Your water, your life” campaign, which encourages us all to carry a refillable bottle and “top up from the tap”. We are all too aware of the environmental and societal cost of single use plastic bottles, and to support this life-style change we will give every member of staff  at the James Hutton Institute  a special refillable bottle to encourage everyone to realise the health benefits of drinking more Scottish tap water, which is excellent in both its quality and taste.
So, when you fill your bottle, just take a moment to realise how precious this wonderful resource really is, and how the Institute and its partners are delivering a sustainable future for water resources across the globe.
 

19th March 2019

CREW project 'Dynamic Coast' wins Spotlight Prize

We are excited to announce that CREW project Dynamic Coast (National Coastal Change Assessment, NCCA) has won the Spotlight Prize at the 4th Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards on 21st February 2019.

Dynamic Coast is an open access web-based tool, offering easy-to-interpret reports and maps of the entire 21,000 km of Scottish coastline, allowing for swift identification of potential areas of erosions and vulnerable assets such as roads, rails, or houses concerned. Of the 21,000 km of the Scottish coastline categorised, 3,800 km of potentially erodible ‘soft’ coast have been identified with 23% having experienced significant change. Past rates have been projected to 2050 to identify likely areas of erosion and the assets (roads, rail, housing etc.) that may be vulnerable.  The Coastal Change Assessment aims to create a shared evidence base to support more sustainable coastal and terrestrial planning decisions in the light of a changing climate. The public web-based maps, reports and videos provide easy to interpret maps of the past and anticipated changes on all of Scotland’s erodible shorelines.  A second phase of work, NCCA 2 is currently underway to enhance the NCCA evidence base on future erosion risks. This project is led by Scottish Natural Heritage in collaboration with the University of Glasgow's School of Geographical & Earth Sciences. To find out more about Dynamic Coast click here, and watch this short video. For more information on the award, click here.

4th December 2018

Scotland's Flood Risk Management Conference 2019

Scotland's annual Flood Risk Management Conference will take place on 5-6 February 2019 at Strathclyde University's Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow.

The conference will celebrate achievements and aim to build on them to provide a vision and plan for the future, linking policy and on the ground experiences. The aim is to have the most inclusive conference yet; drawing on delegates expertise, via debates, workshops, interactive sessions and delegate driven workshops. The main themes will include communications with communities and adaptation to climate change with a view to future planning cycles.

The conference is the key opportunity for Scotland’s flood risk management community to come together to share knowledge and best practice.

A detailed programme of the Conference will soon be available on Sniffer’s website

17th October 2018

Flood Risk Management Conference 2019

Hold the date for Flood Risk Management Conference 2019 - 5-6 February 2019 at Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre, Glasgow

The 2019 Flood Risk Management Conference will be held at Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 February 2019. Tickets will be released in November. Please see https://www.sniffer.org.uk/news/hold-the-date-for-flood-risk-management-conference-2019 for more details.

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