Our catchment management initiatives

When the water industry was privatised in 1989, borders were created along the lines of the river basins that gave many of the companies their names. Our sector has since been defined by these catchments. The years following privatisation have seen a transformation in standards, with companies radically improving all key aspects of the service they provide customers, and greatly reducing their impacts on the environment. However, the investment that has made this possible has, largely been through traditional, ‘hard’ engineering solutions, which rarely address problems at source.

Managing our catchments by addressing issues at their source can offer better value or greater benefits. We have a long tradition of catchment projects and programmes, from pioneering work in the 1990s to protect drinking water sources from pesticides used on railway lines, to our award-winning recent programme to install sustainable drainage in schools, managing flood risk and creating new nature reserves in urban catchments.

We face many, varied challenges that mean we need to evolve the ways we work. Rapid population growth and changing weather patterns are placing an increasing pressure on our ageing infrastructure, while we strive to meet higher environmental standards. We continue to work with landowners to reduce diffuse pollution across our catchments. We've also designed an industry-first initiative which will deliver a more holistic approach to improving our river catchments.

Our ‘Smarter Water Catchments’ initiatives

We’re putting this approach into practice to understand how we can achieve key benefits while working in a more holistic way. The first step on this journey is to co-create a catchment plan with key stakeholders who either operate within this environment and/or have a vested interest in protecting and enhancing it. For the period of 2020 to 2025 we’re trialling this in 3 catchments and will be working in partnership to deliver the plans.

Updates on our plans

Managing phosphorus in the Evenlode Catchment

In some rural areas, run-off from agricultural land and discharges from sewage treatment works can be a significant source of phosphorus, which can lead to excess algae and eutrophication. We've been exploring innovative, potentially more cost-effective ways to achieve target river standards by encouraging water-sensitive farming in the catchment as part of a pilot programme. This trial has been running since 2016 in the Evenlode (a headwater of the River Thames). It's now being evaluated to inform future investment planning and the Smarter Water Catchments initiatives strategy.

This trial has four components where different measures, that have been landowner-led, have been trialled to reduce phosphorus runoff. The Catchment Fund has provided grants for infrastructure and farm management. This is designed to reduce the amount of phosphorus lost from fields and farmyards to watercourses. This was piloted in three waterbodies during 2017 before being rolled out catchment-wide in 2018. In addition to the catchment fund, we've been offering an advice service to help landowners make the best of existing agri-environment schemes. The service includes free farm visits to help design farm activities that reduce phosphorus loss and deliver other benefits to land.

Funding has also been made available to part-fund or provide design and data analysis services for land-based schemes being promoted by our partners in the catchment including the Evenlode Catchment Partnership, the Environment Agency and local community groups. Finally, we're delivering a five-year No Till and Cover Crop trial in collaboration with a range of landowners, agricultural and scientific collaborators from several different organisations.

For more information about these four components, please download the documents below.

How we manage pesticides and nitrate

Using pesticides and nitrate can affect the quality of rivers and groundwater which we use to produce drinking water. We're working with farmers and landowners to reduce this by:

Raising awareness about current and emerging water quality issues with key groups
Working with farmers and agricultural advisors to target our projects in the most important areas
Partnering with local groups trusted by farmers to support catchment management
Funding research into best practice land management methods. These include cover crop and slow-release fertiliser trials, as well as investigating the use of swales and biofilters
Working with our neighbouring water companies that also use water from the River Thames

Between 2011 and 2022 we’ve worked with farmers to reduce the amount of metaldehyde from slug pellets from reaching rivers. Because of this partnership, there were definite improvements in water quality and, in the final year of the project, over 400 farmers took part. Metaldehyde can no longer be used, but this example shows what we can achieve together using catchment management.

Alongside our Catchment Fund, which we explain in more detail below, in targeted areas we also offer:

Water quality updates for farmers and agricultural advisors
Events to share learning and best practice
Free one to one advice for farmers on water quality measures

Every farm and every field can make a difference. Learn about steps to protect river and groundwater quality on your farm in our leaflet.

Factors to consider on your farm
pdf | 1.4 MB

For more information about our catchment-based initiatives, please email us.

Catchment fund and bespoke water quality improvements projects

We are no longer offering catchment fund or bespoke water quality improvement projects. We hope to resume these projects in 2025. In the meantime, we continue to offer farm advice and other water quality updates.