University of Salford to partner with the Environment Agency

It will be looking at schemes designed to slow flood flows, store flood water and manage flood sediment issues. The agreement initially covers the Lake District and will complement monitoring already in place across other parts of the country to generate a comprehensive picture of the value of such projects to flood risk reduction in England. 

Dr George Heritage, AquaUoS at the University said:  “We have a long-standing research and delivery relationship with the Environment Agency with the MoU further cementing this. The work will improve our understanding of river flooding contributing to the improved design of flood management schemes.   

“We are planning to get our students involved in this initiative, teaching them new skills and providing them invaluable experience on real-life projects in collaboration with industry.” 

Olly Southgate from the Environment Agency said: “This exciting monitoring package on some of our river restoration project sites will provide us with some extremely valuable information. Too long now we have seen monitoring of our work as an ‘added extra’ or a ‘nice to do’. Monitoring is much more than that. After all, how can we ever demonstrate the benefits of what we are delivering for our communities and stakeholders without science underpinning our key messages and communications. I hope to include similar monitoring for every project on my programme in future years”.  

AquaUoS is a highly successful commercial unit at the University led by Dr Neil Entwistle and Dr George Heritage. Since it launched in November 2018 the consultancy has worked on more than 100 projects, has over 30 clients, employs 8 Salford students and established itself as industry leading experts in the area of river and floodplain naturalisation. The unit also provides opportunities for students in their learning by contributing to modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate studies.