Reservoir safety research strategy - 2026
This report sets out the strategic direction for our research and explains the evidence we have used to identify our priority research areas.
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This Reservoir Safety Research Strategy will guide research priorities and investment in the coming years. This will strengthen the evidence base supporting:
- reservoir safety regulation
- engineering practice
- asset management
It aims to improve coordination across the sector and ensure that research outputs will be accessible and useful to:
- practitioners
- regulators
- reservoir owners
- the wider research community
Research is needed to improve the knowledge, evidence and decision-making relating to reservoir safety. The strategy:
- identifies research priorities and areas of interest
- will act as a guide for both the regulator and industry in promoting the research and development we need
It does not commit the Environment Agency or its partners to undertake, fund or complete specific projects. Future research programmes will be subject to governance, prioritisation, funding and resource availability.
We aim to continuously improve and evolve our priorities as important events, new reasons for change and trends emerge. This strategy is designed to allow a flexible approach to delivering research, with the main priorities identified as themes, and sub-themes to highlight important focus areas.
By identifying the priority areas for research through evidence gathering and industry engagement, we wish to foster a culture of continuous learning. This strategy identifies the main research problems:
- where we identify gaps in existing evidence
- where we know there are improvements to be made
- where we have identified drivers of potential future research needs
We hope that summarising these with the evidence behind them will help us and other organisations to deliver impactful, useful research deliverables. They will directly improve safety and resilience in the reservoir industry. Our research priorities have been split into 8 themes. These all share the underpinning principles of:
- resilience
- understanding risk
- understanding performance
- the importance of surveillance and monitoring
Climate change, increasing pressure on water services and the age of our assets are putting increasing strain on water security and reservoir safety. This strategy brings resilience to the forefront, to ensure our reservoirs can stay safe and perform the functions needed for our society and environment into the future.
The 8 themes are:
- climate change
- engineering
- environment, social and sustainability
- integration of smart monitoring and artificial intelligence
- regulation guidance
- reliability resilience
- resources, relationships and communication
- risk assessment
The strategy has been written so that any organisation undertaking reservoir safety research may adopt the priority research themes. This allows them to justify and carry out research which meets the needs of the industry now, and in the future. This strategy aims to provide a tool for future collaborative opportunities across the industry, offering the evidence of high value topics for research which are considered highest priority. We welcome any organisation using the evidence and themes to support their own research, or to reach out for future partnership opportunities
Improving transparency and awareness of research is a key priority of ours from this strategy. We welcome feedback and would like to be made aware of ongoing or new research which contributes to our research areas of interest. Please get in contact if you would like to discuss potential research ideas, ongoing projects or delivered research. We work closely with the Reservoir Safety Research Advisory Group (ReSRAG), who can advise on industry connections, project scoping support and improve outreach through the industry. ReSRAG can be contacted through the British Dam Society.
Throughout the production of the report, many representatives of the UK and international dams and reservoirs sector and individual experts have been consulted and have provided valuable comments and input. We want to thank these individuals for their time and valuable contribution.