Water Objective WA-2.1

Sources, fluxes and pathways of water, chemicals and sediments

Research in this area will help to deliver CEH Science Strategy Challenge V (to determine the risks of chronic and extreme exposure of ecosystems and human beings to biological, hydrological and chemical threats) by incorporating the short-term dynamics of water, chemical and sediment fluxes into long-term assessments.

WA-2.1 aims to:

  • Develop novel tracing techniques and bio-indicators
  • Quantify characteristics and dynamics of sediments, including nanoparticles, in different river types and their interactions with nutrients
  • Define key processes that affect the fluxes and fate of pollutants
  • Identify processes controlling hydro-chemical dynamics using high-resolution monitoring
  • Quantify water, chemical and greenhouse gas fluxes at different spatial scales
  • Determine the interactions between aquatic plants and river hydraulics

These activities also inform and are informed by other areas of Water Programme research and by activities in the Biogeochemistry and Biodiversity Programmes and the Environmental Information Data Centre.

 

Areas of research

WA-2.1 undertakes research which is supported by a wide range of stakeholders, which include Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Countryside Council for Wales, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the National Biodiversity Network and the European Union.

Areas of research relevant to WA-2.1 include:

  • Micro-organic contaminants
  • Hydrochemical process studies
  • Nutrient and sediment fluxes
  • Macrophytes and flow regimes

Collaborative research projects

WA-2.1 contributes to many collaborative projects. Examples include:

  • ALTER-Net
  • Countryside Survey
  • ECN (UK Environmental Change Network)
  • Hydrological functions of wetlands
  • Definition of flow standards to implement the Water Framework Directive
  • WISER
  • SAFIR – food production using low quality waters