NRFA staff Lucy Barker, Jamie Hannaford and Katie Muchan carried out a two-day visit to North East England in September, visiting gauging stations in the Northumberland, Durham and Tees area with members of Environment Agency staff from the Yorkshire and Northumberland, Durham and Tees areas.
After an office meeting held in Leeds earlier in the year, this visit consisted of two days of gauging stations visits. The group visited 12 stations across the NDT area, from the Coquet in the north to the Tees in the south. They had the opportunity to hear about recent developments with the hydrometric network in the region and discuss current issues such as site modifications and rating development. There was also time to stop for a couple of quick ‘hydro-tourist’ stops at Kielder Water and High Force waterfall both of which were very impressive – especially in the sun!
Such visits allow the NRFA’s Regional Representatives to update their knowledge of current equipment, processes and problems at each site, giving them a better understanding of how the data are measured. This information informs the quality control of data submitted to the archive and allows metadata updates to inform the user community of new and emerging issues which should be considered when analysing NRFA data. The NRFA aims to conduct between 2-4 measuring authority liaison visits a year across the UK’s 24 regional hydrometric data providers.