The Eddleston catchment is being comprehensively monitored so that the effect of various restoration measures, such as riparian planting or re-meandering, can be fully understood. This monitoring programme consists of a hydrometric network (which measures water as it enters and flows through the catchment), groundwater monitoring, water quality measurements as well as ecological and geomorphological surveys.
The monitoring programme has been designed to provide the required evidence to assess the effectiveness of specific types of NFM measures in reducing flood risk and improving ecological status (using detailed comparative studies of individual interventions, including re-meandering the river, woodland planting, log structures and the benefits of flood storage ponds) as well as the impact of restoration on flood risk and habitats at a whole catchment scale (using flood hydrograph comparisons; monitoring of rainfall, river flow and groundwater levels; and by routine measurements of ecological status downstream).
The catchment’s hydrometric network consists of a series of rain gauges, groundwater and river level gauges throughout the catchment to collect data on river flows and flood frequencies. This has enabled the development of a detailed hydrological and hydraulic catchment model. The hydrological monitoring programme includes rainfall and weather stations; river flow and flood gauges; flood pond levels and storage; and groundwater surveys and boreholes. Ecological monitoring within the catchment has included river habitats (hydromorphology and channel sediments), river biology (invertebrates, fish, plants) and aquatic invertebrates (within flood storage ponds). We have also investigated landowner and community engagement with NFM as well as assessing the value of NFM interventions by assessing flood damages avoided and benefits provided, including improvements in biodiversity, carbon management, water quality, access, recreation and other ecosystem services.
If you’d like to find out what we’ve discovered from our monitoring programme data, please visit our progress to date page for details of emerging results.
Find out more
Strategic Design and Delivery of Integrated Catchment Restoration Monitoring: Emerging Lessons from a 12-Year Study in the UK (Academic Paper 2022)
The Eddleston Water Project: 10 years of implementing, monitoring and empirical analysis of catchment scale NFM measures (webinar, 2021 [starts at 04:30])
Eddleston Water Restoration Project: Fish monitoring programme 2017–2019 (Report, 2020)
Eddleston Water Restoration Project: Macroinvertebrate responses 2012-2019 (Report, 2020)
Building with Nature – Hydrological impacts arising from the Eddleston catchment natural flood management (NFM) measures: empirical analysis (Summary report, 2020)
Panoramic (split) image of flooding in the lower Eddleston catchment (left to right = north to south). (Photo reproduced with kind permission from Dr. Philip Ashmole.)
