The effective management of national hydrometric data: experiences from the United Kingdom

Access to hydrometric information underpins many areas of effective water management. This paper explores the operational practices of one National Hydrological Information Service, the UK National River Flow Archive, in collating, managing and providing access to river flow data. An information lifecycle approach to hydrometric data management is advocated, with the paper detailing current UK procedures in the areas of: monitoring network design and development; data sensing and recording; validation and archival; synthesis and analysis and, data dissemination. The methods and policies outlined in this paper are widely transferable to other hydrological data archives around the world.