Eddleston groundwater monitoring

Holliday, L.; Brickell, J.. 2025 Eddleston groundwater monitoring. British Geological Survey, 12pp. (OR/25/030) (Unpublished)

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Abstract/Summary

This report describes work undertaken to continue monitoring at two experimental sites on the Eddleston Water, a tributary of the River Tweed. The Eddleston experimental sites were set up as part of the wider Eddleston Water Project, which aims to reduce the impact of flooding in and downstream of the village of Eddleston. The first experimental site is part of Darnhall Mains Farm, adjacent to the village of Eddleston (Ó Dochartaigh et al. 2019). It is approximately 0.2 km2 (approximately 400 m by 500 m) and covers most of the width of the Eddleston Water floodplain on both sides of the river (Figure 1). The site is farmland predominately comprising mixed livestock farming on improved grassland, but part of the floodplain has been fenced which has allowed trees to be planted and vegetation to recover. The monitoring at this site comprises eight boreholes in which groundwater level is recorded. Previous data are stored with the National Geoscience Data Centre (https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geological-data/national-geoscience-data-centre/, ID 128585). A key objective of the experimental site is to improve understanding of the role of groundwater in floodplain environments and in flooding, and of how groundwater interacts with climate, rivers and soils. The second experimental site is the Cringletie hillslope observatory (Figure 1; Peskett et al., 2020). The site is approximately 2500 m2 (approximately 50 m by 50 m) and comprises two transects parallel to the slope: one through a narrow forest strip and one on improved grassland used for mixed livestock farming (see Peskett et al., 2020). The installed monitoring equipment comprises soil moisture sensors, rain gauges and piezometers fitted with pressure transducers. The site was set up by Dr Leo Peskett as part of his PhD and was handed over to the BGS in 2020. The aim of the experimental site was to determine whether forest strips planted perpendicular to a hillslope can reduce surface runoff during flood events. Further information about the observatory is available in Peskett et al. (2020). Since 2022/2023, the monitoring has been unfunded and kept going sporadically by BGS staff. In 2024/2025 BGS received a small portion of funding from the FDRI programme to download all data at the Eddleston sites and reset the loggers; audit broken equipment; and collate, process and quality check the data. This will enable a decision whether Eddleston will be included as part of the wider Tweed FDRI research sub-catchment and monitoring of shallow groundwater levels continue at Eddleston through FDRI.

Item Type:	Publication - Report
Funders/Sponsors:	British Geological Survey
Additional Information:	This item has been internally reviewed, but not externally peer-reviewed.
Date made live:	18 Jun 2025 11:06 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539616

Item Type:

Publication - Report

Funders/Sponsors:

British Geological Survey

Additional Information:

This item has been internally reviewed, but not externally peer-reviewed.

Date made live:

18 Jun 2025 11:06 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539616