Our Region's Rivers Today
In 2021 Severn Trent was awarded a 4-star rating by the Environment Agency for the second year running
The recent news headlines around the health of the UK’s rivers have made for uncomfortable reading and we understand the public’s concern; we are absolutely committed to improving the health of our region’s rivers.
In 2021 Severn Trent was awarded the highest 4-star rating by the Environment Agency for the second year running – the regulator’s top grade for environmental performance. The four-star status reflects our commitment to the environment and to improving river quality in our region.
We know looking after the environment means a lot to our customers and the communities we serve. We share the same values and ambitions and these are reflected in both our short and long-term plans.
Working with 9,000 farmers across our region
Agriculture and rural management is a significant cause of river pollution (36%), according to the EA.
We have built good relationships with farmers across our region to help mitigate the impacts of pesticides and other runoff on water quality.
We work together with a 5,000 strong network of farmers across our region to keep pesticides and other runoff out of drinking water and avoid using carbon intensive chemical treatments. We’re also collaborating with up to 9,000 farmers, landowners, and estate managers between 2020 and 2025.
We've spent £9 million on programmes to support the farming sector since 2015
Bathing quality rivers
We are investing £78m that will see 49km of river safer to swim in, while aiming to create two trial stretches of bathing quality river on the Leam in Warwickshire and the Teme in Ludlow. This was something that our customers, communities and other interested groups and local stakeholders wanted to see and to deliver that vision, we will be:
- Working with farmers to further reduce agricultural runoff into rivers
- Setting up monitoring systems and a customer app to provide data about the quality of the river water
- Installing pioneering new technologies on our wastewater treatment sites
- Working in partnership with the local authorities, communities and river users to enhance riverside access and amenities and encouraging community participation.
Mansfield flooding reduction
In Mansfield we are launching a ground-breaking programme, investing £76m in an industry-leading, UK first, installing flood resistance measures.
This project will help create a blueprint for how we mitigate surface flooding and help to protect homes, towns and cities from flooding.
We’re going to be installing planters, swales, rainwater gardens and permeable paving across the town, to slow rainwater down and prevent the sewer network from becoming overwhelmed.
Sustainable drainage has never been done on this scale in the UK.
Playing our part to protect Special Areas of Conservation: River Clun
The lower part of the River Clun in South Shropshire is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), protected by legislation to preserve the habitat of a freshwater pearl mussel population.
Freshwater pearl mussels are remarkable creatures that can live over 100 years. Unfortunately, these mussels are vulnerable to changes in river quality and are now endangered across Europe and the UK.
Analysis by Natural England and the Environment Agency in 2014 (a nutrient management plan) found that reductions in phosphates, nitrogen and suspended solids and sediment were all needed to restore the river and support the mussel population. Since then, we’ve completed upgrades to our treatment works to reduce our share of phosphates by the 75% identified by the 2014 plan.
Phosphates from our treatment works are just one factor that contributes to the River’s condition – the 2014 plan found that farming was the predominate factor driving phosphate, and contributed to nitrogen and sediment – so our investment alone won’t be enough to restore the river.
The area is also an important rural community with development planned to meet its future needs - stakeholders in the planning process including the Environment Agency and Natural England want to be confident that this can be achieved without compromising the river’s restoration before development can go ahead.
Restoring the river and ensuring the needs of the local community are met requires a coordinated approach, so we’ve been working with the Environment Agency, Natural England and Shropshire County Council as part of the Strategic Clun Liaison Group. The group aims to build on the tree planting and work to encourage sustainable farming practices already undertaken in the catchment, and we have proposals in train for us to go beyond the 75% reduction in phosphates initially identified.
The Clun catchment is one of three SAC’s in our region that cover sections of rivers. Like the Clun, we’re also working with stakeholders including the Environment Agency and Natural England on plans for the River Mease in Leicestershire, and the Rivers Wye and Dove in the Peak District.
Having already invested around £50m in upgrading our treatment works across all three catchments to reduce the impact of phosphates, we’re planning further investment to make sure that we’re playing our part in protecting them.
Biodiversity and Beavers
In 2021 we reintroduced several families of beavers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, for the first time in over 400 years.
This project hasn’t just been about the reintroduction of a lost species. It's about
the regeneration of healthy wetland habitat.
Beavers love to build dams which reduce the risk of flooding, creating a natural solution to cleaning waterways.
River Rangers
Our River Rangers are a new team dedicated to protecting the region’s waterways and helping them to thrive. The team work closely with partners to focus on improving river health and boosting biodiversity along stretches of our region’s rivers.
In addition, they also work to educate communities on sewer misuse, preventing wipes and sanitary products from reaching rivers.
The team carry out vital operational, monitoring and sampling activities, allowing us to better understand the quality of rivers in our region and what’s needed to protect and improve them.
Great Big Nature Boost
What's good for nature is good for water
Between 2015 and 2020 we improved the diversity of 244 hectares of land, and the results were so good, we set ourselves a bold new ambition.
In what is one of the biggest nature projects in the UK, we are now aiming to improve biodiversity across 5,000 hectares of land in the Severn Trent region by 2027, significantly exceeding our regulatory commitments.
Trees
Alongside our Great Big Nature Boost, we are aiming to plant 1.3 million trees – 1% of the whole UK target - over the next 10 years.
In 2021 we planted 296,505 trees and by the end of the planting season in March 2022, we will have planted a further 176,590.
Trees have huge climate benefits and when planted in the right places they can also help to reduce flooding and improve water quality by capturing rainfall and gradually releasing it, so it contributes less to river flows and pollution loads. The roots and leaf litter also promote slow absorption of water back into the ground and help with groundwater re-charge, basically act as big sieves!
We’re also working hand-in-hand with farmers across our region to find the best way for them to plant more trees which can reduce the runoff of chemicals into rivers.
Wildflowers and beetle banks
Wildflowers and beetle banks are helping to reduce the amount of pesticides farmers use.
Beetle banks act as winter homes for beetles, which in the spring and summer move out into the farmer’s crop and munch happily on pests which can damage the crop.
These natural control methods mean the farmer has to apply less pesticide and fungicide to the crop - therefore reducing the risk of pesticide reaching our water treatment works and rivers.
We provide funding opportunities for farmers to apply for grants, including wildflower meadow creation and arthropod banks.
Working with partners
We are also helping with the protection of a range of species that help boost nature and, as a consequence, contribute to healthier rivers and natural areas.
Projects include working with the Woodland Trust to protect water voles and turtle doves and with the Canal & River Trust to remove and treat Japanese Knotweed and giant hogweed across 154km of waterways in the East and West Midlands.
We are also teaming up with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to transform a patch of land near our treatment works and turn it into a new wetland for the local community. This new addition to the area will create healthier conditions for Cinderford Brook and a new habitat for local wildlife.
"Our rivers and freshwater habitats are polluted as a result of human activities including how we treat water and the ways in which we manage land. We are facing an ecological emergency with 15% of all UK wildlife under threat from extinction and our rivers are a critical factor in this. We must act urgently to support nature’s recovery before it’s too late. We therefore welcome Severn Trent’s Get River Positive Campaign and look forward to working with them to help clean up our rivers for the benefit of wildlife and people."
