BHS has always tried to support its members in their professional development, and the committee has worked in consultation with the membership to take stock of how they can best achieve Chartered status, as a means of potentially advancing members' careers.

Following the positive response to our questionnaire on Chartered status, a successful meeting on the subject in 2006 and considerable efforts by past President Rod Hawnt, a working group was established to advance the issue during 2007 and 2008.

This working group was made up of:

The working group established that unfortunately the Privy Council have indicated that there is little or no scope for a new Chartered Hydrologist status. However, members can seek to achieve one or more of the existing CEng, CEnv, CSci or MCIWEM qualifications, or alternatively CMet, CGeog or CIWO (details of these acronyms are given in the Guide document).

The working group produced a Guide to Professional Development and Professional Qualification for Hydrologists, which was launched during the National Symposium at Exeter in September 2008. This guide attempts to explain the possible Chartered status routes available to hydrologists and sets out (through the text and a decision tree) how a hydrologist might choose the most appropriate Chartered qualification and awarding body.

The guide contains a series of Appendices listing the specific competencies required for each Chartered qualification and giving examples of hydrological experience that can demonstrate achievement of each of these competencies. Because the guide is currently in draft form, it is hoped that these examples will be expanded and refined and the President would welcome feedback from members.