A catchment-based water resource decision-support tool for the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the Environment Agency of England and Wales has developed a number of initiatives to assist in implementing the European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) including catchment abstraction management strategies and the resource assessment management framework. These processes include setting river flow objectives and establishing best practice for the assessment of water resources at the catchment scale. Research jointly funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council and the Agency developed novel ‘region of influence’ models for estimating standardised flow duration statistics for ungauged catchments which could be re-scaled by output from a runoff model. These hydrological models have been combined with methodologies to incorporate the impact of seasonal water use on a catchment-scale within the Low Flows 2000 software system. This paper describes the system components and how Low Flows 2000 has been implemented within the United Kingdom to address real-world water resource issues associated with the Water Framework Directive’s over-arching strategic initiatives.