Sediment budget analysis: practitioner guide

Supports flood and coastal erosion risk management practitioners by explaining the need for sediment budget analysis.

Documents

Sediment budget analysis practitioner guide - report (1.55 MB) PDF

Sediment budget analysis practitioner guide - summary (208 KB) PDF

Sediment budget analysis practitioner guide - Cymraeg (Welsh language) summary (156 KB) PDF

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Details

The Environment Agency has developed a practitioner’s guide on sediment budgets. The guide’s main aim is to support flood and coastal erosion risk management practitioners by explaining the need for sediment budget analysis and developing best practice in its application.

Use of the guide will provide consistency in the execution and interpretation of sediment budget analysis. It will also help to improve the transparency of decision-making as the consistent approach will mean stakeholders have greater understanding in the supporting evidence used to calculate a sediment budget.

A sediment budget summarises the balance of inputs and outputs for a defined system (such as an estuary) and time period. This helps determine if a system has an overall surplus (accretion) or deficit (erosion) of material. If the accretion and erosion figures are equal, then the system is considered to be in balance.

Published 24 February 2021