River Condition Assessments

River Condition Assessments for Biodiversity Net Gain

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River Condition Assessments are conducted using the MoRPh survey method of linear waterbodies. This method assesses a rivers baseline condition and will inform the actions needed for improvements to achieve Biodiversity Net Gain.

 

What is MoRPh5?

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A Modular River Physical Habitat field survey (MoRPh) is a method developed by Cartographer.io, Queen Mary University of London and the Environment Agency. This method  enables the recording and assessment of physical habitat and hydromorphological functioning of rivers and streams. These will include similar bedrock, a similar land cover mosaic and a similar hydrological regime. The MoRPh survey provides a sample of the physical character of the reach within which it is located. Five of these MoRPh surveys are undertaken to give us the MoRPh5 survey data.

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One MoRPh5 is required to undertaken on each reach within the development site as well as an additional MoRPh5 survey up stream where the linear waterbody exhibits more natural features to use as an aim for improvements.  

 

The data from the MoRPh5 , combined with a river type desk-study to produce a condition score based on the evaluation of several indicators representative of attributes, both positive and negative, of the surveyed river.

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