Description
This session is delivered by senior lecturers from Edge Hill University and focuses on the role of sediment as a critical, yet often overlooked, component of fluvial catchments.Sediment is an important component of fluvial catchments, with flux controlled by both physical factors, including non-native invasive species, and anthropogenic influences such as land-use change. However, sediment is often underrepresented in long-term monitoring programmes. Many UK catchments have a recognised sediment issue, impacting flood risk, ecological functioning and increasing water treatment costs.
Sediment budgets are a valuable tool for understanding where sediment within a river catchment is sourced and how it is routed through the system, helping to optimise catchment management decisions. Over longer timescales, floodplain deposits can extend flood records and identify flood-rich and flood-poor periods, improving our understanding of how catchments respond to climate and land-use change. Floodplain deposits also reveal sediment flux over geological timescales and help to set realistic constraints on potential management-led reductions.
The session will provide updates on research into sediment budgets and source-pathway analysis using modelling, fieldwork and sediment fingerprinting techniques, including isotopic analysis. Case studies will be presented from the River Derwent in Yorkshire and the River Nene in Northamptonshire, alongside discussion of longer-term flooding and sediment flux histories from additional UK catchments.
Understanding sediment flux over both recent and longer timeframes is key when considering payment-for-outcomes schemes. Integrating extended flood histories also improves insight into how catchments react to physical and anthropogenic pressures, helping to inform future management approaches. Throughout the session, links with industry partners will be highlighted, alongside discussion of knowledge exchange activities and the development of communities of practice.
| Period | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, United Kingdom |
| Degree of Recognition | National |