River gauging stations

The Environment Agency recently awarded us a major contract to install an electromagnetic river gauging station. This was highly a complex project with a variey of problems that had to be overcome. It was located in an SSSI area forming part of a flood plain with otter habitats nearby, so care and attention to reinstatement was an important factor. Access was a problem, the site being in a remote area, so temporary tracks had to be laid down for the duration of the project.

The project involved damming and diverting the river so that a concrete base, housing cables in ducts, could be laid in the river bed to create an electromagnetic field. A gauge house, connected to the river bed with pipework to measure water levels, was built on one bank, with an aerial cableway extending from it to the other bank. Instruments can then be suspended in the water midstream to record flow levels, enabling the Environment Agency to accurately predict imminent flooding downstream.