The Environment Agency’s Hydrometry teams are responsible for assessing the quantity of water in the environment. This includes rivers and streams, groundwater aquifers and lakes. Hydro-acoustic instrumentation can be used to measure water in rivers and streams and in lakes.

Hydro-acoustic instrumentation is bought and operated by area hydrometry and telemetry teams. Technical support, training and purchasing advice is provided by experts in the hydrometry programme and technical service team.

Hydro-acoustic instruments have been chosen by the Environment Agency as a very accurate and cost effective method of measuring water in the environment. The instruments can be broken down into three broad groups:

• mobile profiling instruments,

• mobile point-velocity instruments,

• fixed-deployment profiling instruments, including echo-correlation instruments.

• auto-adaptive ‘full range’ ADCP,

• auto-adaptive ‘full range’ ADCP that also offers full user control,

• low cost, lightweight ADCP.

• full range mobile single point velocity ADCP,

• full range mobile multi point velocity profiling ADCP,

• full range mobile single point velocity cross correlation device,

• full range mobile multi point velocity profiling cross correlation device.

• fixed hydro-acoustic ADCP instruments,

• fixed hydro-acoustic cross-correlation instruments.