WHS provide specialist input to water resource determinations, renewable energy assessments, water quality investigations, environmental scoping reports, environmental statements and national scale risk assessments.Our recent projects include:

Water Framework Directive initial characterisation within England and Wales

Client Environment Agency

The estimation of river flows was a key component of the Environment Agency's initial characterisation of surface water bodies within England and Wales. Information on river flow not only underpinned the risk assessment of surface water pressures resulting from abstractions, discharges and impounding reservoirs, this information also underpinned much of the risk assessment of point source pollution and diffuse source pollution.

Over a three-month period, staff from WHS populated Low Flows 2000 with information relating to 14731 significant abstractions, 5187 significant discharges and 361 impounding reservoirs. Using this system river flow estimates and estimates of water use pressure were developed for 12000 surface water bodies. The Environment Agency subsequently used these data to produce risk assessments within the initial characterisation submissions made by DEFRA to the European Commission in 2005. Further information on initial characterisation can be found on the Environment Agency and DEFRA websites.

Characterisation of water use within the Midlands region

Client Environment Agency

Information on river flow and water resource availability forms a central part of abstraction licencing and discharge consenting. Low flow 2000 provides this information for ungauged river catchments. The Midlands region of the Environment Agency contains the River Severn and River Trent basin; two of the largest river basins within the UK and with a complex water resource network providing potable water to major cities and towns such as Birmingham and the Black Country, Nottingham, Coventry, Derby.

During 2005 WHS, working in close collaboration with the Environment Agency, developed conceptual models of water movement around the region and using data from the Agency’s databases developed a detailed characterisation of water use and return across the entire region within Low Flows 2000. This work entailed the acquisition and quality control of data for 13000 water use features and validation of the flow estimates from Low Flows 2000 within 32 gauged catchments. The resultant resource offered by the system has been used for the base characterisation of water use within the Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) for one catchment and the Agency are intending to utilise the information from the system within future CAMS within the region. More information on CAMS can be found on the Environment Agency’s website.

The Waverley Railway Project

Client Environmental Resources Management

The Waverley Railway Project is an initiative with the ultimate aim of re-establishing a rail link to provide a passenger transport service from Edinburgh to the central Borders area in Scotland by 2011. The Project is seen as the first phase of reinstating the entire rail link between Edinburgh and Carlisle, which was closed in 1969. The joint promoters of the scheme are Scottish Borders Council, the City of Edinburgh Council and Midlothian Council who, along with Scottish Enterprise Borders, form the Waverley Railway Partnership. Railtrack and ScotRail are advisers to the Partnership.

For part of its length the line runs along the Gala Water, a tributary and component of the River Tweed SAC. Under the habitats regulation the Scottish Parliament were required to undertake an Appropriate Assessment of whether the remedial engineering work and the operation of the line will have an adverse impact on the integrity of the Tweed SAC. The Tweed is designated for the Annex I Water courses of plain to montane levels with the Ranunculion fluitantis and Callitricho-Batrachion vegetation habitats and under Annex II Atlantic salmon, lamprey and otters. In total there were 49 engineering locations comprising a river diversion, culverts, bridges and extensive bank strengthening works that had to be assessed.

Working under subcontract to ERM (the environmental management consultants to the Promoters) WHS staff defined and executed an extensive field survey of salmonid and Lamprey habitats within the vicinity of the engineering works and coordinated an equivalent survey for macrophytes. In total over 16.5km of river were surveyed. Using the resultant survey information WHS staff assessed the construction and long term impacts of the scheme on the SAC conservation objectives for all locations within the catchment. SNH delivered a favourable assessment of the scheme to the Scottish Parliamentary committee in March 2006.

Cairn Duhie Wind Farm

Client Renewable Energy Systems

Wind farms are frequently located in upland environmentally sensitive areas, and their hydrological impacts are an important part of the planning environmental impact assessment risk assessment process. Working under sub-contract to Environmental Resources Management, WHS have conducted an assessment of the hydrological aspects of the proposed Cairn Duhie wind farm in north east Scotland. The site lies within the catchment of the River Findhorn a productive salmon river and drains into the Dorback Burn, a productive nursery catchment for the Findhorn. Additionally, residents within the area expressed concerns regarding the potential impacts on local water supplies and the enhanced risk of flooding.

WHS evaluated the potential impacts of the development on all of these aspects, developed appropriate mitigation measures for the Construction Code of Practice to minimise the potential for local pollution and proposed a focused and cost-effective pre and post scheme monitoring programme for the developer.