Water

GWP’s water team has global project experience throughout Europe, the Middle East, Pacific and Caribbean islands, Africa and Asia. GWP’s water management expertise is wide ranging and includes:

water sector planning and governance strengthening;
groundwater and surface water resources abstraction and protection;
flood alleviation;
water control and de-watering;
contamination remediation;
micro-hydroelectric schemes; and
impact assessment.

Governance

GWP provides support, primarily to international clients, relating to water governance and integrated water resources management. GWP has extensive experience in international water policy and national water strategic planning. We advise at national and regional levels on sustainable management approaches, including developing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) frameworks and facilitating national and catchment partnerships.

Key features of this strategic involvement are the promotion and implementation of stakeholder participation, awareness raising, capacity building, training and knowledge transfer.

Surface Water

Surface water management and associated risk assessment is an essential element of all GWP's quarry and landfill design activities as well as being a service that we offer alongside IWRM involvement and as a stand-alone service in urban or agricultural environments. Our hydrologists have extensive experience in catchment hydrology with particular emphasis on small catchments affected by development or mineral exploitation.

Our expertise includes:

flood risk assessment and design of flood alleviation systems;
design of surface water management systems, (including specialist systems in quarries), incorporation of sustainable water bodies and wetlands in quarry restoration and for other development schemes;
water quality and sediment erosion studies;
drought analysis; and
rainwater harvesting.

Groundwater

Our hydrogeologists have extensive experience in all aspects of groundwater resources assessment, development, protection and management including:

borehole and well-field development for urban and rural water supplies;
protection and exploitation of thermal and spring water sources;
regional aquifer characterisation;
design of groundwater protection measures;
saline intrusion and freshwater lens assessments; and
remediation of groundwater contamination.

GWP has expertise in:

groundwater control;
the design of quarry and mine de-watering systems;
mine water rebound prediction and mitigation;
dam site and reservoir infiltration studies; and
design of water ingress control systems for underground openings and surface excavations.

Risk Assessment

GWP routinely provides specialist technical advice on the impact of earth and water resource exploitation and a wide range of other development activities on the water environment. We also provide related advice on avoidance or mitigation of unacceptable impacts, including design of management systems and structures. Water related risk and impact assessments include:

the impact of de-watering on water resources and wetlands;
the vulnerability of aquifers to land-use change;
the impact of landfill on groundwater and surface water;
mine water rebound effects;
impacts on flood risk of development in flood plains; and
pollution migration risks associated with contaminated land.

Flooding

GWP has extensive experience in flood risk assessment, management, and mitigation design. Our hydrologists have produced numerous flood risk assessments for floodplain developments at a wide range of scales, from >1 hectare developments up to the strategic catchment assessments and master-planning. This work has been undertaken in the UK and overseas, giving us experience of temperate climate, tropical and arid zone hydrology. We are able to take an integrated approach to flood risk management, for example, by examining groundwater and surface water interactions or by incorporating flood risk strategy into water resources and environmental studies.

Our analytical capabilities include:

rainfall frequency-duration analysis;
catchment characterisation and hydrological modelling;
hydraulic flood flow modelling; and
mitigation design through SUDS approaches and geotechnical solutions.