Land use management effects on flood flows and sediments - guidance on prediction (C719)

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Management of rural land use offers a potentially attractive approach to reducing the need to structural flood defences and channel maintenance to control sediment. The Flood Risk Management Research Consortium (FRMRC) (2004-2012) was tasked with increasing knowledge concerning the efficacy of rural land use management for these purposes, and with developing suitable tools for predicting the effects of rural land use on downstream flood risks and sediment yields.

This guide also presents the scientific basis for natural flood and sediment management through rural land use management in the UK, drawing primarily on evidence obtained from FRMRC research, but also including some findings generated by other projects. It provides guidelines for evaluating and predicting land use change effects on flood flows and catchment scale sediment dynamics, by reviewing the applicability and utility of analysis tools and approaches that are available in the UK.

Further guidance available includes:

• Quantitative assessment methods for the monitoring and inspection of flood defences: new techniques and recent developments (C717)
• Culvert design and operation guide supplementary technical note (C720)
• Framework for assessing uncertainty in fluvial flood risk mapping (C721)