Improvements in Reservoir Flood Mapping as part of the Environment Agency’s Flood Map Project

Since 2015 the Environment Agency has commissioned a series of tasks under the Reservoir Flood Mapping (RFM) Project, culminating in the provision of new dam-break flood maps for all statutory reservoirs in England. The final task comprises hydraulic modelling and the creation of the new maps. This work commenced in Summer 2017.

The maps are intended to be used for the purposes of both emergency planning and risk designation. Their specification has been tailored for these purposes. Maps are produced for both “dry day” and “wet day” failure scenarios, the latter considering a fluvial flood event coincident with the dam-break.

The paper will explore the details of the modelling specification, process undertaken and maps produced, particularly where they deviate from the 2009 National Reservoir Inundation Map (NRIM) Project.