February 2011
January 2011 saw the publication of a 500-page flood risk management book 'Flood Risk Science and Management'. The book describes much of the research undertaken by the first phase of the UK Flood Risk Management Research Consortium, covering: land use and flooding, flood forecasting, flood modelling, flood systems modelling and flood policy and planning.
Halcrow has a key role in the Flood Risk Management Research Consortium and actively disseminates the outputs of most relevance to practitioners. Associate director, Jon Wicks is deputy chair of the Dissemination Committee and sits on the Strategic Advisory Board.
Jon uses examples throughout chapter 23 of Halcrow's extensive modelling of the River Thames through London, demonstrating that a range of flood modelling approaches are necessary in order to best meet the varying needs of flood analysis. For example, Halcrow’s ISIS Professional tool is most appropriate for flood forecasting, detailed two-dimensional modelling is necessary for detailed flood mapping, whereas broad scale two-dimensional modelling is appropriate for appraisal of strategic flood risk management responses at the estuary scale.
Chapter 23 concludes with a discussion, based on the experiences of modelling the Thames Estuary, of where current modelling practice fully meets current needs and where further research is required.
In chapter 22, Halcrow’s associate director, Rodolfo Aradas describes the company’s project to help understand and develop responses to the complicated flooding issues encountered within the plains of the Buenos Aires Province which includes the Rio Salado Basin. The chapter shows how both innovative local modelling and regional modelling was necessary to help understand and assess flooding scenarios and responses. In order to simulate the important surface water - groundwater interaction, dynamic linking between ISIS and MODFLOW, groundwater models were introduced.