Enabling whole water cycle monitoring for flood and drought resilience 

We're deploying advanced monitoring equipment in three strategic locations across England, Scotland and Wales, delivering vital near real-time, long-term data to provide a whole-system picture of the water cycle.

The equipment we are installing will monitor an entire sub-catchment (as shown below). A sub-catchment is the area of land where water from different sources feed into the river. On these pages, we abbreviate FDRI sub-catchments to 'catchment(s)'.

What is FDRI monitoring, where and when?

FDRI catchment locations

Visual examples of FDRI catchment-based activity

Timeline of FDRI instrumentation and digital outputs.

Learn about our catchments

Arial view of the Chess chalk stream, surrounded by foliage
The Chess
A fragile, crucial chalk stream ecosystem and drinking water resource.
Learn more
A floodplain in the Upper Severn catchment
The Upper Severn
The source of Britain's longest river, supplying a vital drinking water reservoir.
Learn more
Upper Tweed arial view, with glenbreck gauging station
The Upper Tweed
A complex upland environment, with mixed uses for the river and surrounding land.
Learn more

Get involved

Farmer's field with hay bales
Information for landowners
Are you a local landowner based in the Upper Tweed, Upper Severn or Chess? We’re keen to work with you!
Find out more here
A RQ pod controller in use
Use mobile equipment
Learn how we're making mobile equipment available for research and training.
Find out more here
Ariel view of a river
Innovation test beds
We'll be offering physical spaces in-catchment for research, innovation and learning. Sign up to the FDRI mailing list to hear updates on these.
Sign up to the mailing list

Q&A

What is FDRI monitoring?

The equipment going into each catchment depends on local characteristics, existing monitoring and science knowledge gaps we need to fill. Alongside our original consultation of the hydrological community, our Catchment Champions are working locally and with experts across the country to put together a catchment monitoring design.

Examples of equipment that may be deployed include:

  • Rain gauges to record rainfall amount and intensity
  • Weather stations to measure air temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed and direction
  • Boreholes and water level sensors to measure groundwater levels
  • Soil moisture sensors, monitoring daily soil moisture over an average of 12 hectares without instrumenting the whole field
  • Flow monitoring cameras to understand river flow speed

You can see photos of these here.

The data captured from FDRI monitoring efforts will enable a huge step change in hydrological research, providing insights on the whole water cycle in an integrated way, so we can better understand flood and drought processes. Learn more about the importance of gathering this data here.

What is whole-system monitoring and how will it increase the uK's resilience to floods and droughts?

Instead of focusing on a single measurement (such as flow velocity or rainfall), whole‑system monitoring tracks all key components of the water cycle within a catchment. This helps us understand how pressures in one part of the catchment affect the whole system, meaning we can better pinpoint the causes of flooding, drought and water quality problems. 

The equipment we're installing for whole-system monitoring will record near real-time, long-term data. This data will be available on FDRI’s open-source digital platform, helping researchers and industry improve hydrological models, which can support:

  • Flood and drought prediction
  • Early warning systems
  • Understanding and evidencing the impact of nature-based solutions on better water management

Learn more about how this data helps our resilience to floods and droughts here.

Why and how were the chess, upper severn and upper tweed catchments chosen?

The Chess, Upper Severn and Upper Tweed were chosen because they offer nationally relevant, contrasting hydrological systems that allow the UK to build a whole‑system understanding of floods and droughts.

The FDRI team went through a structured, science-led decision making process to select these three catchments. They considered current monitoring coverage, national research gaps and catchment characterisation surveys.  

You can find out about each individual catchment on their dedicated pages: