A systems strategy for flood forecasting and warning - an integral part of the Environment Agency's approach to integrated river-basin management.

The Environment Agency of England & Wales is one of the largest and most powerful environmental protection agencies in Europe. A major theme of the Agency's Environmental Strategy is 'Delivering Integrated River-basin Management' which includes its key responsibility to protect people and property from the devastating effects of flooding. The Agency has established the National Flood Warning Centre (NFWC) to provide strategic direction and to focus the Agency's expertise and efforts in support of a 'seamless and integrated' flood forecasting, warning and response service which uses best practice solutions. The NFWC has developed a strategic framework for the real-time systems used in the flood warning process which includes telemetry (data acquisition), weather radar, flood forecast modelling, warning dissemination and event management systems. There is a vast range of technologies used by these systems including instrumentation, communications, real-time distributed computer systems, databases, sophisticated hydrological and meteorological modelling software, automatic voice messaging, decision support and geographical informational systems (GIS). The paper describes the role of the Environment Agency's NFWC and the main points from the strategic framework for the systems used for flood forecasting and warning. It describes the concepts for the various elements including how the data acquisition, forecast modelling and warning dissemination systems combine to provide a comprehensive and balanced approach and how technologies such as neural networks, decision support and GIS's can be effectively used to deliver an integrated solution. The NFWC has recognised the value of developing an approach which would also address the needs of other functions within the Agency, such as water resource management and water quality, and thereby to contribute towards the effective management of complete river-basins or catchments. The paper describes how this has been achieved.