This fourth edition of Floods and Reservoir Safety provides authoritative guidance on flood protection standards, flood magnitude and freeboard -guidance which is essential for engineers who are responsible for the design and inspection of reservoirs.

In the period since publication of the previous edition, there have been changes to extreme flood estimation in the form of rainfall depth–duration–frequency and rainfall–runoff models, reservoir safety legislation, and adoption of a risk-based approach to that legislation. Floods and Reservoir Safety, Fourth edition, addresses these changes and in particular includes amends to:

• legislative changes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• the Flood Estimation Handbook (FEH) (IOH, 1999)
• recent research into extreme rainfall
• guidance on risk assessment for UK reservoirs
• research on wave overtopping of embankments.

A desire for brevity and clarity of principle has led to this document being relatively concise. Floods and Reservoir Safety should be read in conjunction with the latest revision of the FEH, in particular those sections that apply to reservoir safety flood inflow estimation.
A glossary of terms used in this guide is included with appendices, together with a schematic diagram, showing the relationship between the principal terms in the guide.
Floods and Reservoir Safety is essential reading for those individuals who bear the personal responsibility that comes from being appointed to the statutory panel of engineers qualified to design and also inspect reservoirs in the UK.