sswan
Sustainable Solutions for Water and Nature
The water network and the environment are at breaking point and change is needed. We must seize the opportunity to align economic and environmental regulation and make the biggest structural reform of our water system in a generation.
Facing the challenge head on we can be ambitious and innovative and drive impactful and meaningful change. We need to be brave and to invest in our future: both for the health of our waterways, the natural environment and for society.
The new SSWAN model shifts regulation towards catchment-based approaches to support cheaper, more innovative, more collaborative projects that more accurately reflect local priorities.
For more, read the SSWAN Discussion Paper.
A new approach
SSWAN seeks to restore and protect nature and to find sustainable solutions to ensure our waterbodies continue to sustain the health and wellbeing of people, as well as the natural habitats we all value and enjoy.
SSWAN advocates a catchment-based, holistic approach to managing our water courses, putting the emphasis on nature-based and low carbon solutions to benefit water, nature and society as a whole.
It sets out a vision for a new regulatory approach: one that focuses on the management of water catchments, drives environmental improvement at a national level, takes account of local preferences, circumstances and objectives, and enables all organisations affecting and managing catchments to innovate and accelerate environmental improvement in a cost-effective way.
The foundation of this new, more joined-up regulatory model is stronger accountability, with national targets tailored to local circumstances.
For more information read the SSWAN Discussion Paper.
A blueprint for reform
Our regulatory system could be more flexible, with more of a focus on what companies achieve rather than what they do.
We need more focus on nature and our customers, and we need the necessary resources and incentives in place to encourage collaboration.
A more cost-effective, outcomes-based approach will help build trust and restore nature, with regulation focusing on the end results: Is the water quality improving? Is there more biodiversity? Is nature thriving?
The key to this is local tailored delivery at catchment and sub catchment level - involving actors from all sectors contributing to address water health.
SSWAN proposes a four-tier regulatory framework:
Government: sets national policies and targets.
Regulators: accountable for ensuring the delivery of the outcomes set by government. They would regulate outcomes in individual water catchments, with localised targets tailored to individual catchments and reflecting local needs.
Catchment Advisory Boards (CABs): ensure the local objectives reflect local priorities, empowering local government and communities to provide tailored guidance to the regulators.
Joint Area Teams (JAT): determine catchment-specific short and long-term outcomes, setting targets and defining the monitoring requirements for each catchment.
This new model will enable a fundamentally different way of working and has the potential to unlock innovation and improve partnership collaboration. The potential benefits are substantial.
For more information read the SSWAN Discussion Paper.
Call to action
We face water, climate, and nature emergencies. We need the biggest structural shift in generations to rethink how we finance, regulate, and reform our water system to deliver better societal outcomes.
A new parliament should initiate regulatory reform to:
- Set river health targets at a national and catchment scale, ensuring the policy levers and incentives are in place to reduce pollutants and deliver targets locally.
- Link investment and targets across water quality, nature recovery, carbon, and climate to create new sources of funding.
- Ensure pollution is accurately apportioned to those responsible with detailed and transparent monitoring carried out by public bodies.
- Establish independent Catchment Advisory Boards to facilitate local decision making and deliver targets efficiently.
- Resource the regulators to drive compliance and sufficient investment in the water system, using existing enforcement tools.
- Set a framework to deliver long-term resilience, established by an independent body, and requiring water companies and regulators to deliver against the framework.
sswan in action
We have created two theoretical catchments – one urban and one rural.
Urban catchment management
On the left bank the illustrations show what the catchment would look like if we continue with business as usual. The right hand side of the river shows how things could be if we take a more holistic, catchment-wide approach, working in partnership.
Housing on floodplain
Building on floodplains means that the water has nowhere to go when the rivers or coastal waters flood.
River or sea water can no longer spread across the built-up land, which puts pressure elsewhere in the catchment, causing greater flood risk.
Factory and car park
Certain hard surfaces we use to build infrastructure create impermeable surfaces. This means rainwater can’t drain back into the ground, which creates more surface water runoff and can lead to problems, including localised flooding.
To reduce the risk of flooding, surface water is often connected into combined sewerage systems which reduces the sewer systems capacity and leads to the operation of storm overflows. Surface water run-off can also transfer chemicals, animal waste and other road pollution into rivers.
Supermarket and car park
Hard paving – no sustainable drainage.
Sports centre and car park
Impermeable ground and poor drainage.
School
Hard paving – no sustainable drainage.
Home and tower block
Hard paving and poor drainage
Hard paving and poor drainage. Appropriately sized drainage systems maintained by local authorities, can improve this situation. The use of sustainable drainage systems (SuDs), such as soakaways, can improve drainage, capturing some pollutants and enhancing the look and feel of an area and provide habitats for wildlife.
Rubbish in rivers
Rubbish is pollution.
Throwing rubbish into the river has an impact on the water quality and can be dangerous for wildlife.
Built up river bank and no or inadequate drainage
This can lead to localised flooding and standing water on roads and pavements, which can be dangerous and inconvenient. Lack of capacity in road drains, whether due to size or lack of maintenance, can cause flooding. Runoff from highways can transfer pollutants from vehicles, (oil, chemicals, particles from tyres and brakes) directly into rivers.
Improving the size and maintenance of drainage can help, along with sustainable drainage systems such as soakaways, which also enhance the look and feel of the area and provide wildlife habitats.
Dog mess
Cleaning up after your dog prevents dog waste getting into the drains and polluting rivers.
Sports drainage
Impermeable ground and poor drainage. Certain materials like those used to build some sports pitches make the ground impermeable. This acts as a barrier to water draining back into the ground.
SSWAN approach
SuDs – sustainable drainage systems are designed to manage stormwater locally, to mimic natural drainage.
Swale – a shallow drainage channel where rainwater run-off from roads or car parks can collect and soak away.
Flood plain allowed to do its thing
Natural drainage, prevents flooding downstream/into homes. Understanding the natural character of watercourses and preserving a natural floodplain allows space for water and reduces the risk to communities and buildings. By adopting Natural Flood Management and re-naturalising watercourses the environment can act as a store and sponge for flood waters, while also boosting biodiversity.
WRC and outflow into river/sea
Water recycling centres treat the foul and storm water from the sewerage system so that it can be returned to the environment.
The Environment Agency (EA) sets conditions which specify the level of treatment required to ensure that the treated water does not have an environmental impact.
The EA works with water companies to identify sites needing improvement and companies seek approval from Ofwat to expand or improve treatment systems. Nature-based solutions such as reed beds are an additional solution for treating final effluent.
Supermarkets with SUDS
Separation at source is good rainwater management and supports biodiversity. Reeds, grassed banks and nearby trees can be planted to create SuDs, improving biodiversity and aiding water drainage. These features can also enhance access to nature and provide wellness opportunities for local communities.
Town hall with SuDs and water gardens
Separation at source is good rainwater management and supports biodiversity. Rainwater separated before entering the sewer system and piped to a soakaway, pond or swale to facilitate the water to drain through grass and ground surface into the groundwater below helps recharge the underlying aquafer.
SuDs also slow rainwater runoff into rivers and combined sewer system to reduce flooding and storm overflow operation. SuDs also provide filtrations to help remove suspended solids and particulate contaminants from entering groundwater.
Rainwater gardens can create an improved environment, enhancing access to nature and providing wellness space for local communities.
Biodiversity
Creating and nurturing places for native plants to flourish encourages biodiversity and brings nature into our towns and cities. This is good for wildlife and wellbeing.
School with water garden
Including sustainable drainage and water gardens in playgrounds and schools can reduce surface water runoff, allow rainwater to drain naturally through the soil and improve the environment by boosting wildlife.
Grass sports pitch
A grass or permeable ground enables good rainwater management.
Grassed playground
Including sustainable drainage and permeable natural surfaces in playgrounds and schools can reduce surface water runoff, allow rainwater to drain naturally through the soil into groundwater aquifers while also improving the environment by boosting wildlife.
Soakaway
Separation at source is good rainwater management and encourages biodiversity. Soakaways can come in different shapes and sizes, from linear swales to grass plots. Rainwater from buildings and hard surfaces is piped to a soakaway to allow the water to drain through the grass and ground surface into the groundwater below to help refill the underlying aquifer.
They also provide some filtration to help remove tiny polluting and chemical particles from entering the groundwater.
Park with pond/SuDs
Separation at source is good rainwater management. Ponds and SuDs slow rainwater runoff into rivers and combined sewer systems to reduce flooding and storm overflow operation. Porous paving enables rainwater to drain into the ground, soakaways, rain gardens or water butts.
Soakaways and rain gardens can improve local areas, encourage more wildlife, improve urban cooling and offer greater environmental resilience.
House with garden
Natural drainage. Gardens provide an excellent place for wildlife and an opportunity to improve the local environment. Gardens with grass, trees, hedges and flowerbeds use rainwater and the excess can drain naturally through the soil into the groundwater aquifers.
Water butt
Saving water and separation at source is good rainwater management. Water butts are a great way to capture rainwater falling on roofs. They provide two functions:
- to provide an alternative to tap water when watering the garden and thereby saving water and
- to accommodate rainwater and separate it at source rather than it flowing directly into a combined sewer and increasing storm overflow discharges.
Rural catchment management
On the left bank the illustrations show what the catchment would look like if we continue with business as usual.
The right hand side of the river shows how things could be if we take a more holistic, catchment-wide approach, working in partnership.
Barrier in river
Barriers such as dams and weirs can impede fish and eel movements, which has an impact on their spawning and leads to their decline which harms the wider river eco-systems. Barriers may have been installed to address flooding issues, or as part historical water level management or irrigation systems and may now be redundant. Many river groups have identified removal of these structures.
Fish or eel passes – bypass channels or grassy slopes – enable easier movement upstream to spawning grounds.
Trees planted to farm/harvest
Non-native species can damage biodiversity. Harvesting means damage to habitats and ability for life to flourish. While plantations are important for forestry and wood production, non-native plantations and monocultures can impact the wider diversity of wildlife within the countryside. A lack of diversity means lower environmental resilience and susceptibility to disease or climatic pressure, as well as contributing to decline in certain species.
Slurry
Manures and slurries from farm animals can be a sustainable way of providing nutrients to crops. However, excessive use of slurry, or applying it during the wrong weather conditions such as heavy rainfall, can cause increased levels of nutrients to be washed off the land into rivers, contributing to eutrophication and damaging habitats.
Poorly maintained agricultural sites
Poor management of fuels and agricultural chemicals can lead to soil and water contamination. While this is rare, it can still happen and can harm both groundwater and river water, and also affect water supply sources such as boreholes or reservoirs. Fuels and chemicals should be appropriately used, securely captured and stored away from surface water drainage or water courses.
Road with poor drainage
Without good drainage infrastructure, roads act as pathways for runoff straight into the water environment. Road drains can contain contaminants including rubber, oil, metal, microplastics and anti-freeze from vehicles, and soil and litter from rural and urban runoff.
Crops right up to river’s edge
Grazing and cropping right up to the riverbank can increase the risk of run-off from these fields creating pollution in the river. Surface water running across fields can transport sediment, excess nutrients (from manure or fertilisers) and pathogens (from animals) into river channels. This can cause eutrophication, affect water quality and sediments can smother river habitats causing harm to fish and species living in the river.
Livestock in river
Although it is illegal to allow livestock to enter a river, it does sometimes happen. If farm animals enter rivers it can cause environmental problems from bankside erosion leading to sediment pollution in rivers, to the introduction of pathogens and nutrient contamination that compromise water quality for people and wildlife.
It can also harm the animals themselves as they may come in contact with pathogens in the watercourse, or slip and harm themselves.
Eroding riverbank allowing run off
There are many reasons why riverbanks erode: some are natural due to normal river processes, but this can be exacerbated by poor field, bankside and upper catchment management.
Riverbank erosion loses soil essential for growing crops and releases sediment into rivers which can transport pollutants such as nutrients or pathogens. It can also increase flooding downstream.
Where natural river forms are replaced by concrete or clay-lined channels the flow can increase, leading to greater erosion, undermining riverbanks and causing them to collapse, and creating higher levels of sediment pollution which affects fish habitats and water quality.
SSWAN approach
Now we'll go through examples of preferred rural management and what good it can do to the environment.
Reservoir
Sustainable abstraction: reservoirs are a vital source of drinking water and an important habitat for nature. They host recreational activities including fishing and walking and are highly valued by local communities. Water quality in reservoirs is influenced by surrounding land uses and the rivers that feed into them.
Reverting agricultural land to woodland, wetland or creating natural flood management can both improve water quality by filtering the water, create new wildlife-rich habitat and retain water for longer, reducing peaks and troughs associated with climate change.
Reedbeds by treatment works
Storm overflow management to minimise pollution: water recycling centres treat foul and stormwater from the sewerage system so it can be safely returned to the environment. The Environment Agency sets permits conditions which specify the level of treatment required to ensure there is no environmental impact.
Many settlements have traditional combined drainage systems where both sewage and rainwater enters the same system. These combined sewers include storm overflows that operate during heavy rainfall to prevent sewage flooding into homes and streets. Water companies are working to significantly reduce the number of times storm overflows operate, and nature-based solution such as reedbeds can help reduce the levels of contaminants in stormwater by acting as a filter. They also provide wildlife habitats and, compared with more ’traditional’ treatment methods, they have a lower carbon impact.
Alternative route for fish to swim upriver
Providing fish and eel passage around barriers in rivers such as dams can avoid blocking fish and eel movement which impacts their spawning, leading to declines in their numbers and harm to wider river ecosystems. Fish and eel passes enable easier movement upstream to spawning grounds.
Wetlands
Wetlands can help protect us from extreme weather events by storing rain like a sponge, which reduces flooding but can also help lessen drought by slowly releasing water back into rivers, lakes and groundwater. They can also reduce air temperatures and help to control erosion. They play an important role in improving water quality, are a crucial habitat for many species and provide opportunities for recreation and connection to nature. Wetlands can be reintroduced into more naturalised floodplains or included in new developments as a form of sustainable drainage.
Natural woodlands and hedgerows
Woodlands and hedgerows are an important part of our landscape and an integral part of our natural environment. Woodlands can sustain an immense range of wildlife, support human health and wellbeing, improve air quality, offer shade for crops and livestock, prevent nutrient loss and soil erosion, improve water quality and reduce flood risks.
Hedgerows support a rich variety of species and act as a link between habitats. They reduce the amount of fertiliser, pesticides and sediment that reaches watercourse by acting as a buffer, increase infiltration to the soil, and recycle nutrients.
Expanding or creating new woodlands and hedgerows to link them up is an important step towards recovering species populations.
Well maintained/tidy farm
Agricultural activities are one of the largest sources of pollutants to rivers, lakes and estuaries according to the Environment Agency. Adopting a range of pollution reduction measures across farms and rural industry to reduce soil erosion, pollution from nutrients, chemicals and fuels, will help to protect and improve our rivers and groundwaters.
Buffer strips along river bank
Buffer strips provide river bank protection to reduce levels of erosion and prevent agricultural/animal contaminants running into the watercourse, improving water quality. There is also the potential to encourage wild riverbank plants to flourish between the fence and river, increasing biodiversity and providing further resilience and bank protection.
Bathing water
Rivers and lakes are increasingly used for recreation, with associated health benefits and a more direct connection to nature. Water quality is important to reduce the risk of harm to recreational users and is influenced by factors including water company discharges, agricultural practices, septic tanks, pathogens from wildlife and road drainage. Real-time monitoring of water quality allows recreational users to make informed choices about the safety of their activity while improvements to water company systems and reductions in pollution from agriculture and urban area will improve overall water quality.
Managed livestock
Fencing and buffer strips provide river bank protection to reduce levels of erosion and prevent agricultural/animal contaminants running into the watercourse, improving water quality.
Case studies
Across England and Wales there are already many examples of partnerships working together to take a catchment approach to protecting nature and our watercourses.
Organisations mentioned in the following case studies who are not signed up members of the SSWAN Advisory Panel may not endorse the SSWAN proposals.
Water treatment wetlands, Ingoldisthorpe
Norfolk Rivers Trust in partnership with Anglian Water
Background
The Norfolk Rivers Trust and the Environment Agency have been working in partnership with Anglian Water as part of their Get River Positive commitment to restore river habitats across the region. Together, they have created a wetland near Ingoldisthorpe, operating as a natural treatment plant for millions of litres of water, a wildlife haven, and a beauty spot. Additionally, it has improved resilience by harnessing nature without the need for carbon-heavy infrastructure and additional chemical usage.
Challenge
East Anglia has a growing population and there is pressure to improve water quality whilst providing space for nature, local amenity, and reducing carbon emissions. Nature-based solutions are key to this, providing vital services to customers and meeting these demands, in a way that benefits wildlife, the environment and local communities too.
Chemicals pollution in a growing region poses a major challenge. With pollutants such as phosphates and ammonia coming from urban runoff and domestic products like detergents, as well as human and animal waste. With a growing region, there is a need to increase natural solutions rather than focusing on chemical treatment processes or carbon intensive solutions that are unsustainably and costly.
Solution
A one-hectare wetland was created next to the water treatment works, taking used but treated water and passing it through a series of interconnected ponds planted with native wetland species such as iris, sedges, rush, marsh marigold and watercress.
Despite already meeting the permit thresholds the wetland plants provide further treatment, naturally cleaning the water, removing extra ammonia and phosphate before it re-enters the river, removing the need for costly carbon-intensive solutions.
The wetlands are also a huge biodiversity asset. A local primary school survey found over 200 species of plants, animals and insects including a large variety of butterflies, dragonflies and other aquatic invertebrates, yellowhammers and spotted flycatchers. Footage of a water vole was also recorded using remote cameras.
Outcome
As the habitat becomes more established, the site will be valuable for wildlife. A section of the river Ingol has been remeandered to allow space for the wetland. The new stretch contains features including a arrower channel with a faster flow, and shallow and deeper sections. The result is a classic chalk stream with clear water and a gravel chalk bed. Additionally, 1400 native trees including oak, holly, hawthorn, field maple and hazel hornbeam have been planted to keep the river cool – further encouraging biodiversity.
Lessons learned
Anglian Water’s wetland programme at Ingoldisthorpe has provided a blueprint which can now be rolled out across the region.
Improving habitats and resilience, River Wylye
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust in partnership
with Wessex Water
Background
The River Wylye is a revered chalkstream in Wiltshire. Famed for a diversity of aquatic flora and fauna, including iconic British species such as salmon, wild brown trout, otter and water vole. The river catchment is uniquely protected under national and international law (as part of the River Avon SAC).
The Wider Wylye strategy is led by Wessex Rivers Trust and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and delivered through diverse stakeholder groups and partners, including the Hampshire Avon Catchment Partnership (HACP) and Wessex Water. The site is significant as the health of the natural environment directly underpins the regional economy being.
Challenge
The long term health of the river is at great risk due to issues including water quality and quantity, degradation of the river channel, invasive non-native species and the broader effects of climate change.
Solution
The 2020-2025 Wider Wylye Strategy is both people and nature focused and includes:
Restoring natural processes in our rivers and floodplain
Restoration will bring back natural processes to some of the most physically degraded reaches of the river and its floodplain, helping to repair the natural environment and restore its ecosystem.
Education and engagement in the local community
The HACP recognises the value of nature connectivity, embedding volunteer-focused events, guided river walks and school education projects at the heart of the project to improve the communities’ connection to the Wylye catchment.
Collaboration with land managers and wider stakeholders
There is a desire among local land managers to adopt regenerative farming practices that better protect water quality and biodiversity. HCAP delivers community-focused activity, delivering learning and engagement events covering new environmental schemes and surveys to identify new opportunities for restoration.
Outcome
The projects overall outcomes have created bigger, better connected and natural functioning habitats, providing an array of benefits including flood reduction, water purifying and carbon capture. Natural processes have been restored, enhancing at least 5km of river and 10ha of floodplain. Engagement with the local community has increased, with hundreds of children and adults having built awareness to protect this chalk stream. A climate resilient future has developed, with land managers and stakeholders working together in partnership.
Lessons learned
- Collaboration is key as it unlocks expertise, knowledge and funding. Local communities and stakeholders must sit at the heart of activity to build a strong foundation for future work.
- Local farmers are a critical part of cross-sector working relationships, especially in delivering natural capital benefits via new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) and Biodiversity Net Gain principles.
- Early investment prior to the onset of ELMs will place the HACP and the farming community in a strong position to deliver natural capital benefits and ecosystem services.
Smarter water catchments, Thames river basin
Thames Water in partnership with Greater London Authority (GLA) and Waltham Forest Borough
Background
Thames Water have 27 catchments within the Thames River Basin.
These catchments are highly varied, ranging from primarily rural catchments with nutrient issues to extensively urban catchments with rainwater runoff contributing to river pollution.
Challenge
In urban catchments, Thames Water need to remove or attenuate 7,000 ha of impermeable area from draining to London's sewers by 2050; the equivalent of more than 50 Hyde Parks.
London's highways are congested with services and disruption from street works a major issue in the Capital. This makes network solutions expensive and challenging. Solutions require extensive collaboration with London's communities to change the way rainwater is managed.
Solution
The Smarter Water Catchment initiative aims to have all 27 catchments operating under collaborative partnerships to identify and act on issues and opportunities to deliver healthy and sustainable rivers. Thames Water and their Londonbased communities explored opportunities through two pilots:
Project capture
A collaboration to garner community support to adopt leaky butts on domestic properties, Thames Water and Waltham Forest Borough Council identified that within certain communities, attitudes towards adoption of water butts changed once it became clear they offered a low cost and rapid contribution to addressing concerns around flooding. Engagement on this basis resulted a stated preference of around 90% willingness to adopt within two key early adapter communities.
Delivery of SuDs through Streetworks
Between April 2022 – April 2023 there were 435,825 streetworks permits issued across London. These could allow works from multiple utilities to take place at the same time. In a flagship pilot collaboration with Cadent Gas, SuDs were installed alongside other works. The project benefits included reduced use of concrete and construction materials, cost savings, reduced disruption for local road users and improved green space, attenuation capacity and pedestrian crossings.
Lessons learned
The early pilots in Project Capture have been sufficiently encouraging to lead to work on the co-creation of scaled up trials with GLA/LAs investing in 1,000+ water butts to test the opportunity to increase rates of adoption beyond the early adopters.
Streetworks provides a new method for delivering SuDs across London. The high-level feasibility study has suggested there appears to be sufficient supply of SuDs projects (via streetworks) and demand for SuDs to introduce a market mechanism into this process that would help the practice scale. The GLA are considering innovation investment opportunities to finance a SuDs-Streetworks trial.
Reviving rivers in England
Rivers Trust in partnership with Coca Cola
Background
The Rivers Trust and the Coca Cola Foundation have been working in partnership for the past decade to develop a deeper understanding of freshwater environments across England. In 2020, a new three year programme was launched to help clean some of England’s most polluted rivers, reduce flood risk and create new wetland habitats in rural and urban locations.
Challenge
The UK’s rivers are under stress. Extreme weather events that cause flooding and drought, coupled with pollution and poor land management have had a huge effect on natural habitats and biodiversity.
Solution
The 2020 project was launched to help businesses become more water efficient and improve water quality, reduce flood risk, store carbon, improve habitats and biodiversity, and enhance the health and wellbeing of local communities. The project encompasses six distinct water management, environmental restoration and conservation projects. For example, its ‘green infrastructure’ initiative will improve water quality and sequester carbon in the Thames and South East. Work is also taking place in the North East of England addressing rural land management as well as peatland restoration in Kent.
Project aims
- Demonstrate how businesses can lead in driving water efficiency measures.
- Replenish more than 1.6 billion litres of water to the natural environment.
- Capture or absorb 10 tonnes of carbon per year.
- Create four new, large urban wetlands and a further 20 settling wetlands.
- Restore 66 hectares of ancient coastal fen in Kent.
- Improve biodiversity and restore habitats for wildlife.
- Work with farmers, landowners and other businesses to improve land management and reduce run-off.
- Plant 9,000 new trees near Morpeth in Northumberland to lock in carbon, alleviate pollution and reduce local flood risk.
Outcome
By working with local landowners and communities, river health is improving. The creation of new urban wetlands and settling wetlands enables the capture of pollutants, and there is improved biodiversity through habitat restoration of ancient fen in Kent for more than 30 bird, animal and rare plant species.
Restoring and creating freshwater habitats has provided a natural environment for communities to enjoy, improving wellbeing and demonstrating the business case for action.
Lessons learned
- Hard engineering alone is not enough to revive our rivers: nature-based solutions like tree planting and wetlands are fundamental for climate resilience.
- Partnerships have enabled the successful delivery of naturebased solutions through local collaboration that have improved the quality and resilience of catchments.
Addressing pharmaceutical effects on water quality, Cam and Wellow
Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership
Background
Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership was formed by Wessex Water, University of Bath, Bristol Avon Rivers Trust, Bath & NE Somerset Council, the Environment Agency and Natural England. It was launched to better understand the main drivers of pollution and support landowners to successfully target and deliver measures to restore nature.
Cam and Wellow is a partial SSI and the valley experiences flooding and low/sluggish summer flows. With multiple users of the river system in the area, the project provided an opportunity for researchers to look at different contributors to water quality within the catchment and assess their impact.
Challenge
Using water quality data, researchers identified pharmaceutical traces in the river system. There was an opportunity to better understand (and potentially treat) health outcomes of the community by analysing wastewater – a globally recognised method for addressing the interdependencies around human and environmental health.
Solution
The Bristol Avon Catchment introduced the OneHealth initiative, which involved specific analysis from the water recycling centres in the catchment using sewage as an indicator for community health. It allowed medical professionals to tailor social prescribing to reduce reliance on meds and therefore improve water quality.
Outcome
The OneHealth data is used to inform health prescriptions – typically nature or socially-based – to address non-communicable diseases (anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease etc) via different interventions to reduce the volume of pharmaceutical traces in the water system. The work has seen improved water quality and improved fish habitats.
Lessons learned
Linking the healthcare system and water/environmental sectors could provide alternative funding streams to enable a greater level of green and social prescribing but it needs a longer-term vision alongside enabling action in order to be sustained.
Improving water quality and biodiversity
Eden Rivers Trust in partnership with United Utilities
Background
The River Eden in Cumbria is an internationally important river for biodiversity and geology known as a Special Area for Conservation. The landscape is dominated by small, predominantly livestock farms and woodland, and farming and tourism are essential to the local economy. There are a number of small wastewater treatment works across the catchment.
Challenge
None of the River Eden’s 86 official water bodies have a ‘high’ water quality status and 21% are classed as ‘poor’ or ‘bad’. There are numerous sites designated for wildlife, landscape and heritage value, however nearly half of these Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSIs) are in unfavourable condition. Pollution from excess nutrients and agricultural run-off threaten the water quality.
Solution
In 2019 the UK’s first Catchment Nutrient Balancing (CNB) trial was initiated. The project initially aimed to remove 150kg of phosphorus load through integrated catchment and treatment works solutions.
Wider catchment measures included hedges, buffer strips and sediment ponds delivered at farm level to reduce agriculture’s contributions to water pollution – going beyond regulatory obligations.
United Utilities worked together with the Eden Rivers Trust, Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council, Lancaster University, Natural England’s Catchment Sensitive Farming, The National Farmers Union, the Environment Agency, and Nestle and their fellow stakeholders, making joint decisions through co-creation and co-delivery of interventions.
Outcome
The trial exceeded expectations, achieving a 63% reduction in phosphorus. The trial saw that an improved process at treatment works, combined with catchment interventions, delivered significant additional ecological benefits though the reduction of nitrate, sediments, nitrous oxide, and bacterial load. They have also delivered wider biodiversity benefit and overall soil quality enhancement.
The CNB trial will be expanded across three further wastewater treatment works in the Petteril catchment – Greystoke, Motherby and Southwaite.
Lessons learned
Catchment-based solutions need to be bespoke – “one size fits all” does not work. Working in partnership is more efficient and more effective. Engaging with agriculture is likely to yield improved performance and better compliance which provides increased river quality benefit.
Innovation is key – and the freedom and incentives to take risks will encourage further innovation.
Peatland restoration, Lake Vyrnwy
RSPB in partnership with Hafren Dyfrdwy (HD), the Welsh subsidiary of Severn Trent
Background
The Lake Vyrnwy Estate which is owned by Hafren Dyfrdwy, a subsidiary of Severn Trent Plc, covers over 10,000 hectares of open moorland, blanket bog, farmland and forest, receiving 200,000 visitors every year. The land surrounds a 7.6km long reservoir, built in the Victorian era to provide the growing city of Liverpool with water.
Today, it brings together a partnership of Hafren Dyfrdwy, United Utilities - who deliver the water to Liverpool – RSPB Cymru, Natural Resources Wales, and the local community. The Hafren Dyfrdwy vision is for Lake Vyrnwy to be an exemplar of sustainable water and land management for the benefit of the environment, the local economy, the community and visitors.
Hafren Dyfrdwy and RSPB Cymru have been working together in partnership across the estate for over 15 years and the RSPB team manage the largest farm tenancy at Vyrnwy which covers around 4,800ha. The RSPB also owns a designated upland area neighbouring the estate (~515ha) and leases two other smaller areas of upland nearby from Natural Resources Wales (NRW). Ultimately decisions about how land is managed across the Vyrnwy estate are determined by Hafren Dyfrdwy, shaped by a variety of factors including the overall biodiversity and catchment management plan.
Around 65% of the estate is a designated SSSI with primary conservation objectives set by NRW. These primarily relate to upland habitats including blanket bog and dry heath and to particular species including hen harrier, merlin, red kite and peregrine.
Restoring Blanket Bog across Lake Vyrnwy’s Uplands
Blanket bog dominates Lake Vyrnwy’s uplands and when in good condition it supports biodiversity, captures and stores carbon and purifies water, which contributes significantly to the overall water management plan for the reservoir. However, modifications by past management practices including the installation of drainage, burning, peat extraction, inappropriate grazing and forestry encroachment have harmed biodiversity and nature. So, restoration is imperative.
In the past, EU funded remedial work helped, however, more work is still needed to address further drains, gullies and eroding peat cliffs (hags) and to eventually return the blanket bog to a naturally functioning state. Together Hafren Dyfrdwy and RSPB Cymru estimate that there remains around 1500 ha of blanket bog to be restored across Vyrnwy’s uplands.
Our approach to date
Hafren Dyfrdwy and the RSPB team at Lake Vyrnwy, along with the National Peatland Action Programme and other funders, have embarked on an ambitious programme of restoration both in terms of scale and standard.
Peatland restoration involves rewetting areas of degraded blanket bog by blocking drains and gullies with peat dams and reprofiling peat cliffs (hags). The project starts with an intense period of restoration (three years) followed by a long period of maintenance, enhancement and monitoring.
The partnership also aims to work closely with local communities to deliver these aims, with people taking ownership for protecting and enhancing their natural and historical heritage and benefiting directly from the landscape. As part of the Hafren Dyfrdwy Strategic Direction Statement it is acknowledged that the estate is an important visitor attraction and Welsh heritage site for public engagement and awareness.
Projects are being accredited under the peatland code – this ensures there is a commitment to the ongoing task of maintaining and monitoring the restoration. It also provides a recognised mechanism to accredit the carbon emissions avoided and an opportunity to generate income which can be used to support the long-term aims of the project.
Long Term Outlook
Gradually, all the blanket bog across the site will have a high water table and support bog forming vegetation, contributing to a mosaic of upland habitats which are sustained by grazing, managed by the RSPB team on site.
The site will eventually provide nesting and foraging habitat for a range of breeding birds, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce erosion and improve water quality and enhance water storage at the site, providing resilience against extreme weather events.
Designated upland habitats will be in ‘favourable condition’ with important features protected and enhanced and providing a range of public benefits which will also be integrated with sustainable food and timber production.
Lessons learned
- Long-term planning and sustained funding are essential - carbon funding is playing an essential role alongside other sources, which are being led by Hafren Dyfrdwy
- We recognise that partnership working is vital to approach a challenge of this scale, and pool all resources, knowledge and expertise.
- Engaging neighbouring landowners and tenants is vital, as is good effective stakeholder engagement.
- Not all solutions have an immediate effect and take decades to reap rewards.
Hafren Dyfrdwy knows that no single organisation, or government, will be able to carry the solutions to solving the issues of climate change and the loss of natural habitats alone, that is why working with RSPB Cymru is so vital.
Nature restoration, Haweswater
RSPB in partnership with United Utilities and farmers
Background
Haweswater sits within a landscape of mountains, moorland, streams, bog and woodland. The area is a vital source of water for the Haweswater reservoir, which provides two million homes and business with drinking water.
The RSPB manages two farms on the catchment, which together with their associated common land, cover about 3,000 hectares. Working in partnership with United Utilities, RSPB manages the land to demonstrate how ecological restoration can work alongside sustainable upland farming.
Challenge
The area faces huge challenges:
- shifts in the land economy – how will farmers be paid; where might future markets be. Many upland farms are not financially viable without subsidy and grants
- shifts in the climate – storms and droughts are the new normal
- shifts in what society needs and expects from its landscapes.
Solution
RSPB set out four responsibilities to ensure catchment resilience.
- Putting the land enterprises at Haweswater on a viable financial footing.
- Matching the management at Haweswater to the needs of society.
- Securing the natural fabric of Haweswater for future generations.
- Making sure the landscape remains unmistakably Haweswater.
RSPB’s work includes:
- Restoring watercourses Swindale Beck had been artificially straightened and had its riverbanks raised over the years. By restoring its natural meandering course and removing raised banks, the water is now better connected with its floodplain, reducing flooding downstream and improving conditions for wildlife
- Blocking artificial drains and restoring peat bogs – working with Natural England, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and other partners, over 50km of artificial drains have been blocked, raising the water table to increase the abundance of peat-forming bog mosses, increasing carbon sequestration, reducing flood risk and boosting biodiversity
- Changes to livestock stocking and transparent financing – reducing stocking rates of livestock improves soil and water quality, encourages regeneration of vegetation, and can improve farm profitability through reduced input costs
- Tree planting and woodland restoration – more than 100,000 trees have been planted at Haweswater since 2011, using locally-sourced saplings, many of which were grown in the RSPB’s on site nursery.
Together, these approaches reduce damage to soils and limit runoff, improving river water quality.
Outcome
The work is leading to the development of a richer, more complex patchwork of ground cover with a combination of wet, wooded and open areas. The management of site is focused in restoring and replicating natural processes, such as naturalistic grazing, natural succession and natural flooding patterns. Given time, this will lead to the recovery of diverse habitat mosaic, providing huge benefits to water, wildlife and people.
Lessons learned
The new approach to land management as Haweswater is as good for natural environment as it is for the local economy. Employment has risen from four full-time staff in 2012 to 18 today. This has been achieved by diversifying income streams, focusing not just on livestock production, but also on ecotourism and leaning into grants for nature recovery. This approach could applied far more widely in the UK uplands, but support is need to help farmers make the transition.
Nature-based solutions for flood alleviation, Mansfield
Severn Trent Water in partnership with Mansfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council
Background
Mansfield is surrounded by vestiges of Sherwood Forest. The River Maun flows through Mansfield town centre and later joins the River Idle. Tributaries to the River Maun include Caudwell Brook, Vicar Water, Rainworth Water and Foul Evil Brook.
Challenge
Historically, flooding has been the prominent issue from both the main river and ordinary watercourses. There is also an increasing risk from flash surface water run-off flooding and sewer flooding.
The flood hazard and risk maps for Mansfield show that there are approximately 30,600 people living in the Mansfield surface water flood risk area, with 863 in the high-risk category.
Solution
In 2022, Severn Trent Water, Mansfield District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council launched a £76-million Green Recovery Project, the largest flood alleviation project of its kind in England.
The project will use nature-based solutions such as:
- 20,000 sustainable drainage systems (SuDs) to divert surface water away from sewers, slowing it down and helping drains to cope. SuDs combine some of the latest water drainage technology with natural resources, reducing flood risk while cutting pollution and enticing more plant and animal species.
- Basins, planters and swales – swales are shallow channels with sloping sides, which store the water and release it more slowly into the ground.
- Rain garden areas around the Market Place and Old Town Hall – using plants and soil to retain and slow the flow of rainwater from surrounding hard surfaces. They also cool urban areas in the summer, helping to make a positive difference even when it is not raining.
- A pocket park with a slide for children in the existing green space on the corner of Walkden Street/Quaker Way, to make the town more flood resilient. Adding more trees shrubs helps to capture rainwater and allows it to infiltrate.
Outcome
By harnessing nature, the project will reduce flood risk for 90,000 people and create 390 local jobs. The aim is for the project to become the blueprint for how we manage flooding in the future.
It also makes Mansfield an even fresher, greener place to live for communities and nature. When complete, the scheme will be able to store 58 million litres of surface water – the equivalent of 23 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Lessons learned
The project is not complete, however we will update this case study once we have been able to fully assess the outcomes.
Nature-based solution to flooding alleviation, Hanging Langford
Wessex Water in partnership with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust
Background
Hanging Langford is in the Cranbourne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape. Wiltshire Wildlife Trust owns the Langford Lakes Nature Reserve which is made up of meadows and three lakes, with the River Wylye forming part of its border. The lakes and surrounding river host wildlife such as gadwall, tufted duck, kingfishers and the endangered bittern, and salmon, brown trout and grayling as well as otters and water voles.
Wessex Water has a sewage pumping station next to the site.
Challenge
Lying in a chalk valley and straddling the river Wylye, the water table at Hanging Langford fluctuates throughout the seasons, causing localised flooding. Residents have been forced to direct surface water down manholes to protect properties from this flooding, effectively transforming the sewer system to a land drainage network.
To provide a drainage system for residents, Wessex Water pumped the diluted effluent from the sewerage system under emergency powers from the Environment Agency (EA) into the river. However, this was not a permanent solution, being both unsightly and risking the downstream nature reserve.
Solutions such as a new drainage scheme expanding the network would have been both costly and carbon intensive.
Solution
An innovative nature-based solution was created by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and Wessex Water involving the construction of a reed bed within the nature reserve to naturally treat the effluent, removing chemicals and pollutants prior to the water being discharged to river. The sewerage system was sealed to manage volumes and the EA agreed to a pumped, screened overflow when necessary to avert a flood risk. A new wildlife habitat has been created and no untreated effluent now discharges into the river.
Outcome
Wessex Water is working with the EA to develop the first ever biologically treated storm overflow permit at this site, using numerical standards to ensure that the quality of the discharge has no environmental impact to the river.
River sampling since January 2023 has shown no adverse impact on the watercourse from these pumping operations and the risk of homes flooding has been alleviated. The reedbed removes 72% of suspended solids found in the arriving water, as well as 88% removal of E-Coli. There is no impact on the river in terms of phosphorus or ammonia concentrations and there’s been a slight improvement in terms of E-Coli.
The reedbed also provides a valuable habitat for species including dragonflies and warblers.
Lessons learned
- Flexibility was key to allow an innovative and unique permitting arrangement, which has permanently reduced the flood risk and improved water quality.
- Partnership working between the EA, Wessex Water and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust enabled the success of this project.
Upstream thinking, Exmoor and Dartmoor
Dartmoor National Park, Devon Wildlife Trust, West Country Rivers Trust, Natural England, FWAG South West, National Trust, SW Lakes Trust, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, NFU, English Heritage, Environment Agency, and Exmoor National Park in partnership with South West Water
Background
Upstream Thinking works with trusted, local delivery partners to employ local experts who support farmers to manage their land in ways which are better for water quality and wildlife, by reducing pollutants and keeping more water in the landscape using nature-based solutions.
Our delivery partners have developed trusted relationships with farms across the region which helps build confidence in their advice and increases the opportunity to change.
A partnership comprising South West Water, the South West Peatland Partnership, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust, Westcountry Rivers Trust, FWAG and South West Lakes Trust, has been set up to reduce river pollution and enhance biodiversity.
Challenge
Farmyard manure, artificial fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides used on the land can end up in rivers. This not only damages biodiversity, but bad raw-water quality means more intensive, expensive treatment is required to get it to drinking-water standards.
Solution
Our multi-award-winning catchment-management scheme, Upstream Thinking, applies natural solutions to reduce agricultural impact while supporting farmers and the rural economy, by providing long-term resilience to climate change.
Working in partnership, our activities include:
- Installing waterside fencing
- Building ponds
- Improving farm tracks
- Increasing slurry storage
- Planting trees and buffer strips to catch and filter water
- Restoring peatland and improving soil management
Outcome
Lower costs: by the time water reaches streams, rivers and reservoirs, it is much cleaner. This makes treatment more efficient, using less energy and carbon.
Better homes for wildlife: improved soil quality, more trees and plant species, and cleaner water mean many species have returned to the waterways that we have helped clean up.
More confidence for farmers: it is only with the support of farmers that we have been able to enjoy the benefits of this programme. Farmers who have engaged with Upstream Thinking have seen many benefits, including more nutrients left in the soil due to less run-off, healthier pastures, and sponsored upgrades to their farms like fencing and silage storage.
Recovering nature for wildlife: the partnerships have committed to improving biodiversity across our sites through improvements in ground management.
Lessons learned
Working together is the only way to achieve long-lasting change; The willingness of local landowners, farmers and volunteers to do the right thing for the land and water has made all this possible.
Our delivery partners have developed trusted relationships with farms across the region which helps build confidence in their advice and increases the opportunity to change.
The Rivers Trust
Water for Tomorrow participatory model
Background
Water for Tomorrow (WfT) was a partnership of five organisations across France and England, which aimed to improve the management of water resources to increase environmental, economic and societal resilience to water scarcity and drought.
The partners included The Rivers Trust (lead partner), Water Resources Eas, the Environment Agency, Bureau des Recherche Géologique et Minière, and Communauté d’Agglomération Béthune Bruay Artois Lys Romane.
Challenge
Water scarcity is a recurring problem with serious economic, social and environmental costs for the Channel area. WfT aimed to address these challenges and increase local resilience by bringing together stakeholders to co-design innovative management tools and systems. The goal was to achieve this for waterways in the Cam and Ely Ouse, East Suffolk and Broadland catchments, to find the best solutions for sectors to adapt to water shortages.
Solution
Working across all concerned sectors, WfT supported the development and implementation of new and innovative operational management tools and processes to enable more responsive
short-term management, and better long-term planning and investment, at a local scale.
Specifically, WfT aimed to deliver:
- New data collection methods, hydro-economic models and new software to improve water allocation and early warning of water scarcity.
- Multi-sector collaboration that supported the uptake and roll-out of these systems and use of smart technologies in the management of water resources across the FCE area.
Lessons learned
No one person can have a complete picture of the hydrological, environmental, political, legal, economic and social processes that are all relevant to solving water problems. The use of a participatory model helped to map out how things work in the real world, based on the views of different people.
The models revealed several findings across the agriculture, ecology and water industries. These include:
- Water stress affects agricultural productivity and profitability but can be reduced by improved access to, and more efficient use of, water.
- Diverse and high-quality habitats support diverse and thriving ecological communities but require the right conditions to thrive. Climate change impacts on the characteristics of water can alter the habitats, causing decline or loss altogether.
- Water scarcity can impact industry by reducing revenues and production, which may lead to business closures or relocation. Changes in production can also have knock-on effects on other sectors in the local area.
- Water companies must manage supply and demand through effective management, such as investment in supply infrastructure and reducing leakage. Water supply is also determined by abstraction, which must be carefully regulated to ensure water is left for the environment.
Reducing the use of storm overflows, Hampshire and isle of Wight
Southern Water in partnership with the EA and parish councils
Background
Southern Water is working with partnerships to reduce the impact of storm overflows launching a ‘Pathfinder’ programme to further work through a targeted approach.
Challenge
The ambition to reduce the use of storm overflows - caused by a combination of historical infrastructure not fit for needs of the 21st century, and the impacts of climate change - is hampered by legislative and regulatory constraints that do not incentivise the most effective, efficient and sustainable solutions. Viewing rainwater as ‘a resource to be reused’ is not possible with current drainage infrastructure, because it mixes rainwater with sewage rather than harnessing its benefits.
Solution
The Pathfinder project started with the assumption that the most efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally beneficial approach was to reduce, or slow, the amount of water entering sewers. The following examples show this approach in action:
Swalecliffe
Spills were reduced by over 30% by working with the EA to increase the usage of storm tank storage, investing £750,000 in new chambers and pipework and redirecting 450l of storm water per second during a heavy rainfall.
Appley and Fairlee, Isle of Wight
Owing to a new small pumping station and better use of storage, this has reduced releases to Appley to 30 per year with Fairlee seeing a 95% reduction in annual releases.
Lower Church Road, Isle of Wight
A flood risk assessment was submitted to the EA to redirect the flow of stormwater and install a flow restriction device from a development of 50 properties. The work will reduce spills by 30%.
Pan Parishes, Hampshire
Partnership work has started with Pan Parish councillors and
customers in the area to encourage them to take part in their Pathfinder trial. 559 connectivity surveys were conducted at private properties resulting in an offer to seal leaking pipes for free. Over 100 properties have had pipes sealed for free, reporting positive outcomes. This will help mitigate against excess water from private networks entering public sewers and help prevent local flooding, which is worsened by high groundwater volumes.
Outcome
Although the project is ongoing, initial schemes demonstrate the value of water storage and other initiatives to prevent sewer systems being overwhelmed.
Lessons learned
The above initiatives are focussed on built environment rather than natural environment ways of stopping water flow at source because of the current legislative and regulatory constraints to nature based solutions.
About us
SSWAN is a partnership of organisations who share the same goal: to find sustainable solutions for water and nature. We have drawn up proposals for regulatory reform of the water industry, based on a catchment-wide approach focusing on nature-based and low carbon solutions.
We all seek to restore and protect nature and to find sustainable solutions to ensure our waterways continue to sustain the health and wellbeing of people, as well as the natural habitats we all value and enjoy.
This alternative approach to managing and protecting the natural environment put forward by SSWAN sets out what is and isn’t working, what can be improved and what needs to be fixed. The proposals contained in this document are the result of months of discussions and roundtables.
The SSWAN proposals are not the final answer but are intended to act as a catalyst for further discussion to find a new way of working – putting nature first.
For more information, read the SSWAN Discussion Paper.
SSWAN Advisory Panel:
Alastair Chisholm, CIWEM; Shaun Spiers (Chair), Green Alliance; Nik Perepelov, RSPB; Martin Hurst, Sustainability First; Mark Lloyd, The Rivers Trust; Ali Morse, The Wildlife Trusts; Guy Thompson and Matt Greenfield, Wessex Water; Joanna Lewis, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.
We are grateful to the following people who have been critical friends and offered their support, advice and guidance: Bart Schoonbaert (Arup); Mark Caines, Craig Lonie, Rohan Sakhrani and Sarah Latham (Flint Global); Gary Mantle; Heather Marshall (Mott Macdonalds); James Wallace (River Action); Lizzy Roberts, Costanza Poggi, Ellen Bassam and Katie Davies (Seahorse Environmental); Stuart Colville (Water UK); Charlotte Hanna (Wessex Water).
Let us know what you think or ask a question?
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