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Water – “our most important resource”
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 20 October 2009
Supply and demand - can we
maintain them?
Martin Ross, Environmental Manager
Presentation content
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Climate change and the challenges
Possible solutions
Full scale trials
‘Upstream Thinking’
Possible actions for farmers
Prospects for the farming industry
A gift from the Romans…
1. Climate change and the challenges
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Increasing temperatures
Increasing storminess
Summer and autumn droughts
Flooding of land and urban areas downstream
Loss of farm productivity and viability
Higher risks for water and waste water
services
Challenge 1: major national events
Challenge 2: intermittent local events
Challenge 3: one night in December 05
Drought and erosion in Tenerife
Historic erosion in Galway, Eire
2. Possible solutions
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Retain soil, peat and fertilizers on the land
Support sustainable farming
Slow down water release and run-off
Encourage more wetlands, buffer strips,
carbon capture, woodlands and areas for
biodiversity
• A range of measures - ‘Upstream thinking’
• Farm benefits: about £5-8,000 per annum
3. Full scale trials
• CSF techniques implemented by Westcountry
Rivers Trust above Upper Tamar Lake
• 15 farms - water and land use advice
• Moorland rewetting implemented on Exmoor
has restored 250 Ha of peat
• New customer tariffs, more metering (SWW
85% by 2010), incentives to separate waste
water from surface water
Tamar Lake catchment improvements
Before: erosion by livestock, sediment deposition into stream
After: fencing installed to make a formalised drinking point
Tamar Lake catchment improvements
Before: slurry lagoon with leakage into stream and lake
After: pre-cast solid walls fitted to ensure no slurry escapes
Tamar Lake catchment – biodiversity gains
Left: wetland pond created at Trentworthy Farm
Right: restored wetland at Upacott Farm
4. Our proposals
• These projects are now approved from
2010-2015:
• Extend Mires pilot from 250 Ha to an
additional 4,000 Ha, mostly on Exmoor with
trials on Dartmoor; align with CSF for farms
• Undertake seven CSF programmes on key
rivers in Devon and Cornwall
• Investigate 17 other catchments above
SWW’s abstractions and reservoirs
Funding Exmoor/Dartmoor restoration
Restoration with timber structures
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Biodiversity restoration
Carbon capture by sphagnum moss
5. Possible actions for farmers
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Surface water separation from slurry
Rainwater collection and use
Leakage detection and automatic controls
Soil and manure retention
Use of clover for nitrogen capture
Reduced need for artificial fertilizers
Creation of wetlands and buffer strips
6. Prospects for the farming industry
• Replace subsidies with ‘Paid Ecosystem Services’
to reward sustainable farming
• ‘Polluter Pays’ changes to ‘Provider is Paid’
• Recognition and payment for all the services:
food, crops, landscape, carbon capture, flood
prevention, biomass, biodiversity, tourism and
recreation provision, increased water quality and
quantity in droughts
• Set up this new approach in time for CAP reform
Can we make our businesses secure?