Hydrology

JBA started out as a specialist hydrology and hydraulics consultancy, and hydrology remains one of our main strengths.  Our staff include some of the UK’s leading specialists in hydrology, both of high flows and low flows.  Many of our hydrologists have a background in research institutes and universities and this has given us the capability to carry out research projects as well as applying our hydrological skills to numerous consultancy studies.

We can provide expertise in:

  • Flood hydrology
  • Low flow hydrology
  • Groundwater hydrology
  • Water resources hydrology
  • Hydrology of land use management
  • Hydrology of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands
  • Impacts of climate change
  • Evaporation studies
  • Irrigation studies
  • Hydrometry
  • Development of hydrological software

We have a large range of experience of training and capacity building, and the development of technical guidance.  JBA has developed introductory and advanced courses on hydrology for a range of clients including the Environment Agency (England and Wales) and the Office of Public Works (Ireland).  JBA staff have made substantial contributions to hydrology textbooks and guidance documents including:

JBA staff have also published numerous peer-reviewed articles on hydrological subjects ranging from flood estimation and stochastic rainfall modelling to the impact of land use management and snow melt.

Example projects

A small example selection from numerous JBA hydrology projects is listed below:

  • Reviews of severe flood events to investigate return periods, impacts and possible causes – including the Summer 2007 floods in central England, the January 2008 flood in Queensland (Australia) and the November 2009 floods in Cumbria (UK) and Cork (Ireland)
  • Hydrological and hydrogeological assessments of the impacts of developments such as quarries, wind farms, watercourse diversions and wetland restoration
  • Development of stochastic rainfall models and rainfall-runoff models for continuous simulation of flow in complex catchments where conventional flood estimation techniques are inadequate, such as the Don catchment in South Yorkshire and the Crossens catchment in Merseyside
  • Development of real-time flood forecasting systems, including rainfall-runoff models and river flood routing or hydrodynamic models, and configuration of models on client systems
  • Advice on catchment abstraction management strategies and drought permit applications for both regulators and water companies
  • Peer reviews of high-profile flood studies carried out by other consultants where clients need to strengthen their confidence in the findings
  • Reviews of national hydrometric networks for England, Wales and Ireland and development of quality classificaiton system for river gauging stations
  • Research into the impact of climate change on inland navigation and recreation (Environment Agency)
  • Research to support the use of probabilistic information to inform decision making on climate change impacts (Environment Agency)
  • Research into spatial dependence of flooding and development of guidance on applying design flood flows to river models (Office of Public Works)