Groundwater Rising

Mark Fermor is CEO and a co-founder of GeoSmart Information, a UK-based environmental consultancy and flood data analytics company. He has spent decades working to understand water and flooding (of all types) and developing technology to help map, analyse and forecast.
In this interview with host Helen, Mark gives his expert insights into why this is an exciting time in the groundwater and flooding sphere.
Discussion points include:
- The step change improvement machine learning is delivering in terms of making flood mapping and forecasting more robust and detailed, especially when it comes to groundwater
- Why he is advocating for a more integrated national and catchment based approach to understanding flooding
- How groundwater's influence on fluvial flooding is often underestimated and misunderstood
- Why he believes groundwater flooding should be added to the UK's national risk register

Have a story you’d like to share on Groundwater Rising?
Email groundwaterrising@projectgroundwater.co.uk
To find out more about Project Groundwater, visit projectgroundwater.co.uk
Want to watch this episode on YouTube? Go to www.youtube.com/@GroundwaterRising

The Groundwater Flood Warning service was launched in 2024 by Project Groundwater. It was created in partnership with 3 Sided Cube, Jacobs, and the British Geological Survey (BGS). Throughout its creation, our communities had opportunities to provide feedback on the first prototype and suggest features.

Guy Wilcox and Tom Trigg from 3 Sided Cube join host Helen to discuss lessons learned during the development and testing of the service. Topics include:

How the service works and what refinements have been possible in terms of capturing and modelling data

What challenges and opportunities have been revealed by developing this service

Where Guy and Tom feel the service could go next

What future similar projects and services will be able to build on from the team's experiences

Have a story you’d like to share on Groundwater Rising?
Email groundwaterrising@projectgroundwater.co.uk
To find out more about Project Groundwater, visit projectgroundwater.co.uk
Want to watch this episode on YouTube? Go to www.youtube.com/@GroundwaterRising

Claude Nsobya undertook groundbreaking research into the links between community and resilience... with the added dimension of being able to compare data from two countries - Uganda and the UK.

Claude was inspired to pursue his research by family experiences of drought in rural communities in Uganda and has continued his academic journey in the UK, culminating in his PhD research, which he talks about in detail in the episode. There are fascinating insights here for both groundwater flooding and flood management in general, including:

Why existing context in communities (like existing resilience) is vital to understand

Lessons learnt from comparing Uganda and the UK

How community engagement from outside agencies (like government projects) need to be carefully thought through

How variety in local geography (physical and human) affects both community and resilience hugely

Where Claude thinks policy - particularly in the UK - could be improved

Why groundwater flooding presents particular resilience and community challenges

How simple achievable and low-cost actions can make a huge difference in community resilience

Have a story you’d like to share on Groundwater Rising?
Email groundwaterrising@projectgroundwater.co.uk
To find out more about Project Groundwater, visit projectgroundwater.co.uk
Want to watch this episode on YouTube? Go to www.youtube.com/@GroundwaterRising

Adrian Porter joins host Helen to tell the story of hie remarkable journey from being groundwater flooded with devastating effects... to becoming a local flood warden... and eventually re-training to become a water and environment expert... and then getting a role researching and preserving chalk streams.

In the first part of this episode we get to hear the dramatic story of how Adrian's own house succumbed to groundwater flooding - he tells the story extremely effectively... this is a very valuable and insightful description of what it is actually like to be groundwater flooded. 

In the second half of the episode we hear about how Adrian has harnessed this negative experience in a positive way. He shares vital tips and advice for anyone else affected by groundwater flooding on options to protect their home... and then goes on to explain how communities can become more resilient and help each other. 

Finally, we hear more about how Adrian now works with chalk streams and his thoughts on how we can make progress on better understanding groundwater and why he believes we need to take the approach of working with nature... not trying to control it.

 

Have a story you’d like to share on Groundwater Rising?
Email groundwaterrising@projectgroundwater.co.uk
To find out more about Project Groundwater, visit projectgroundwater.co.uk
Want to watch this episode on YouTube? Go to www.youtube.com/@GroundwaterRising

Winterbournes are a type of temporary river that only flow above ground at certain times of year. They are very important in understanding how groundwater works, as well as chalk aquifers. Observing the flora and fauna they support is vital, because it gives clues to a whole variety of environmental patterns, including the effects of pollution, urbanisation and what may happen with climate change.

In this episode, host Helen interviews Patrycja Meadows (Pan Area Senior Ecologist at Environment Agency) to get the theory on winterbournes... and then visits one with Patrycja and her team as they undertake sampling. On a lovely spring day with the river flowing fast and the lambs bleating in the background, this is an evocative and insightful episode captured at the perfect time of year to explore winterbournes.

Patrycja talks passionately about the role of citizen science, and you can find out more about how to get involved via these pages of the Enivronment Agency website.

Have a story you’d like to share on Groundwater Rising?
Email groundwaterrising@projectgroundwater.co.uk
To find out more about Project Groundwater, visit projectgroundwater.co.uk
Want to watch this episode on YouTube? Go to www.youtube.com/@GroundwaterRising