Estimates of design floods are required for the design of hydraulic structures (e.g. dam spillways, waterways, culverts) and to quantify the risk of failure of the structures. Most of the methods currently used for design flood estimation in South Africa were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s and are in need of updating with more than 40 years of additional data currently available and with new approaches used internationally. The South African National Committee on Large Dams (SANCOLD) and the Water Research Commission (WRC) identified the urgent need to update the data and methods used for design flood estimation in South Africa and has initiated a National Flood Studies Programme (NFSP) to update these. Working Groups (WGs) focussing on Rainfall, Flood Analysis Methods, Data and Products were established to identify and prioritise research needs.

A wide range of issues were highlighted for research by the WGs and these research topics were synthesised and synchronised into a plan for the National Flood Studies Programme (NFSP), which was published in 2015. The NFSP is endorsed by the SANCOLD, WRC, Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the South African Road Agency Limited (SANRAL).

The aim of the NFSP plan is to update and modernise methods for design flood estimation and flood risk assessment in South Africa. This will be achieved by the development of research capacity and capacity in industry for the application of updated and modernised design flood estimation and flood risk assessment methods. A multi-institutional approach has been adopted to implement the NFSP plan which includes the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Bath (UK), Central University of Technology, and the DWS.

This web portal contains information on the NFSP and is a dynamic repository to collate data, information and methods for design flood estimation in South Africa. For further information on the NFSP, please contact Prof Jeff Smithers (Smithers@ukzn.ac.za).