Agricultural Partnership to Enhance Water Quality and Protect Nature
Agriculture is one of the most significant contributors to non-point-source pollution impacting rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater supplies. Read how Anglian Water is joining a partnership to enhance water quality and protect nature on agricultural land.
Fertiliser and animal manure, both rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, are the primary sources of nutrient pollution from agricultural sources. Overall, excess nutrients can cause harmful algal blooms, negatively impacting public health, creating dead zones in water, increasing water treatment costs, and affecting industries dependent on clean water.
Most agricultural land is privately owned; therefore, the protection and improvement of water quality are usually dependent on environmentally focused management by many farmers across a region. Applying agricultural best management practices (BMPs) is crucial to ensuring measurable improvements in water quality and other conservation goals. Agricultural BMPs are conservation or production practices used individually or in combination that effectively and practically prevent or mitigate non-point source pollution.
Water Friendly Farming project
Anglian Water has partnered with the Freshwater Habitats Trust and the Environment Agency to launch a range of projects over five years to enhance nature and biodiversity across farmland in Pitsford, considered the UK’s breadbasket for cereal production.
The Water Friendly Farming project will take place over three phases in collaboration with local farmers. The first phase involves farmers providing access to their land for teams to assess the current state of biodiversity in the area, with surveys carried out on species present, water quality, and the catchment area’s hydrology.
In the second phase, the team will work with farmers to add various agricultural BMPs to the landscape to enhance water quality in the area, examples of which will include ponds and leaky dams. Other agricultural BMPs that will be implemented include conservation tillage, riparian corridor management, installation of buffer strips, creation of wetlands and ponds, and nutrient management practices, among others.
The third phase will involve assessing how these measures have worked to enhance water quality in the area. Overall, the initiative aims to answer a range of questions, including:
- Do agricultural BMPs increase wetland plant diversity?
- Does the addition of woody material in waterways increase biodiversity?
- Can leaky dams slow the flow and reduce flood peaks during storm events?
The take-out
Protecting nature is a team effort.
Join the conversation on the following LinkedIn groups: Urban Water Security, Our Future Water, Circular Water Economy, Blue-Green Infrastructure, Nature-Based Solutions, and Urban and Regional Futures
