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Introduction

DEFRA and The Environment Agency are embarking on a major exercise to develop Catchment Flood Management Plans (CFMPs) for all river catchments in England and Wales.

The MDSF (Modelling and Decision Support Framework) has been developed to support the implementation of these CFMPs. The purpose of the MDSF is to automate parts of the CFMP process and make CFMPs easier and quicker to prepare.

So what is a CFMP?

CFMPs are intended to identify a preferred policy for managing risks to people and to the developed and natural environment in a sustainable manner. A CFMP must be based on a sound understanding of the hydrological and hydraulic processes at work in the catchment that influences the generation and dissipation of all types and frequencies of river flooding.

The key steps in a CFMP, as defined in the Draft Guidelines for Catchment Flood Management Plans, Volumes I (Procedures) and II (Guidance) (Environment Agency, DEFRA & National Assembly for Wales, July 2002) are as shown in the diagram below.

How does MDSF help?

MDSF provides tools and guidance for the following:

• Facilities for managing and viewing catchment data
• Advice on catchment hydrological and hydraulic modelling using external modelling software
• Advice on future land use and climate change scenarios
• Import of river flood level data from external models
• Calculation of flood extent and depth
• Calculation of economic damages for commercial, industrial, residential and agricultural assets
• Calculation of social impacts, including population affected and social vulnerability
• Presentation of results for a range of cases for assistance with preferred policy selection
• A framework for policy evaluation
• Procedures for estimating uncertainty in the results for each policy

Further details of the ways in which the above are implemented are given in the MDSF Procedures document and MDSF User Guide, available for download in the downloads area.

Should you require any further information regarding MDSF, please email info@mdsf.co.uk.

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