World Rivers Day is a celebration of the world’s waterways. It aims to highlight the values of our rivers, increase public awareness and encourages improved stewardship of all rivers. One...
World Rivers Day is a celebration of the world’s waterways. It aims to highlight the values of our rivers, increase public awareness and encourages improved stewardship of all rivers.
One of the Westcountry Rivers Trust initiatives is The Water Net Gain project that explores ways in which they can support farmers to bolster drought affected water supplies and ease associated river health pressures. This project is funded by the third Ofwat Innovation Fund Water Breakthrough Challenge, and Westcountry Rivers Trust are working in partnership on this project with South West Water, the Environment Agency, the Rivers Trust, Saputo Dairy UK and Duchy College.
In 2022 and this year, the UK has had first-hand experience of the impacts of drought and water use restrictions. These extreme events are likely to be more frequent in the years to come. Through this project, the Westcountry Rivers Trust are co-designing a catchment scheme where farmers are paid to store water on their land in new ponds that can act as water ‘batteries’. The project is looking to understand how this could improve the farms [water] resilience as well as wider society and rivers.
CEO at Westcountry Rivers Trust, Dr Laurence Couldrick said: “Having first-hand experience of drought and water use restrictions in our region in the last year, and with more water resource deficits predicted by 2050, we will be exploring the potential with the farming community for new ponds and lakes to create water storage ‘batteries’.
“These ecologically connected and distributive ‘smart ponds’ would enhance water retention on land, charging during the winter, and enabling farmers during times of summer drought to either use the water for on-farm needs, thereby alleviating demand on the mains supply, or to sell to recharge our rivers via water companies adding to the water supply grid.”
Westcountry Rivers Trust would like to hear from farmers about their current water use, whether their water supply is resilient for the future, and whether Water Net Gain could propose a valuable scheme to take part in, to improve water resilience on farms, by creating water storage ponds.
Farmers can complete an online survey about water resilience and Water Net Gain. The survey will be live from September to December and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete – more info on the website: https://wrt.org.uk/project/water-net-gain/.
At the other end of the extreme weather spectrum, we’re seeing a noticeable rise in heavy rainfall events. These intense downpours often overwhelm soils that have low infiltration rates, preventing them from absorbing all of the water. As a result, excess rain runs off the surface, often carrying valuable topsoil with it. This runoff not only poses a threat to our watercourses; contributing to nutrient leaching and disrupting the delicate balance of aquatic ecosystems; but also strips away a vital resource that many rural businesses depend on – soil.
Through the Cornwall National Landscape Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme, we’ve supported numerous farms with expert advice and practical interventions aimed at reducing runoff, safeguarding our waterways, and strengthening farm resilience. These interventions have ranged from installing coir logs in gateways in order to slow water flow and capture sediment during heavy rainfall, to mob grazing set-ups that encourage deeper rooting grass to draw water down into the soil.
FiPL has allowed farmers to trial a range of soil-health and protection techniques. The FiPL team are particularly keen to trial techniques to protect soils where maize is grown. The under-sowing of maize, a few days after maize establishment, helps to stabilise the soil and keeps a living root in the soil where there would normally be bare soil – helping to feed soil biology, build fertility and improve soil health. The under-sown crop helps to slow down water flow across the field as well as improve infiltration rates through more roots being present in the soil and, depending on the selected species, increasing fertility in the soil by fixing nitrogen.
There are many other practical techniques farmers can adopt to reduce runoff and protect their soil. Reducing tillage (e.g. ploughing), for example, helps maintain the soil’s natural structure and supports healthy worm populations – making the soil more porous and better able to retain water. Or the use of buffer strips – non-cropping areas sown with grasses – along field headlands, which capture soil runoff and keep valuable topsoil in the field.
As weather patterns continue to shift and extreme events become more frequent, taking proactive steps to protect soil health, retain moisture and manage runoff to protect farm businesses and the environment is more important than ever. Whether through targeted interventions, changes in land management, or support from programmes like FiPL, there are practical, proven ways to build resilience into the farming system. We encourage farmers to contact our FiPL team to see how we can help your business: please email fipl@cornwall-aonb.gov.uk.
Westcountry Rivers Trust are 1 of the 22 partner organisations of the Cornwall National Landscape Partnership. Westcountry Rivers Trust aims to restore and protect the freshwater environments of the Westcountry for the benefit of people, wildlife and local economies.
Cornwall National Landscape Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) is a Defra funded programme to support farmers and landowners to help address the climate and biodiversity crisis, improve people’s engagement with the landscape and support sustainable farm businesses and communities.
This article was written by the Cornwall National Landscape team & West Country Rivers Trust team.
