SRA Annual Report 2024-25: River Brue modelling
In recent years, people living in parts of the lower catchment of the River Brue have endured an unhappy combination of very high flows of water and difficulties in getting agreements about works that would reduce the risks of flooding locally – while not increasing risks elsewhere.
In an attempt to break this combination-lock, Somerset Rivers Authority commissioned a fresh study of how much water the Brue conveys, and how water moves – and is moved – around its lowlands. New Brue modelling was completed in 2023.
In 2024, Somerset Council – as a partner in the SRA – agreed that it would lead a further project using this Brue modelling to investigate and appraise various possibilities.
The council duly commissioned AW Water Engineering Ltd and WSP to act as consultants, and they started work in January 2025. Both these firms also worked on the SRA’s Brue modelling.
The project team’s main aims now are to get a better understanding of different scenarios in the Brue catchment, to test the pros and cons of possible interventions, and to develop viable recommendations for actions that could get local or national funding (or both).
Areas and subjects being looked at include silt removal and other methods of increasing watercourses’ capacity for conveying water, structural improvements to flood defences, bank repairs and changes to operational procedures.
Somerset Council hopes to have recommendations ready by autumn 2025.
SRA partners all recognise that Brue catchment flooding since 2023 has increased local people’s interest in ways of successfully dealing with problems.
Using the SRA’s modelling will help to show how and where various improvements should work best and how any competing interests might be reconciled.