Our Region's Rivers Today
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 2023 Severn Trent was awarded the highest 4-star rating by the Environment Agency (EA) for the fourth year – 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.
We are delighted to announce that in November 2022 we welcomed our Independent Advisory Panel to their first meeting, The panel, which is made up of six independent experts who will meet once a quarter to help us fulfil our five pledges and monitor our progress. Find out more about the panel on our blog.
Working with 9,000 farmers across our region
Agriculture and rural management is a significant cause of river pollution (40%), 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.
Green Recovery
We are already investing £387m between 2020 and 2025 on storm overflow improvements and minimising our impact on rivers, and in July 2020, our regulators and some Government departments set water companies the challenge of helping the country's green economic recovery from the pandemic.
From this we've created our £566m Green Recovery programme - the biggest investment of any water company in our green future.
The Green Recovery programme will ensure we deliver a number of creative ‘green’ initiatives across our region, with two key projects focussing on river quality improvements and reducing flooding and the use of storm overflows.
Bathing rivers
We are investing £78m to improve over 50km of rivers in Warwickshire and Shropshire. This is helping to move two stretches of river, on (the Leam and the Teme,) towards bathing quality and ultimately making them better places to be for everyone, no matter how they use them.
This was something that our customers, communities and other interested groups and local stakeholders wanted to see. To deliver that vision, we are:
Our greener, cleaner vision for Mansfield
In Mansfield we have launched a ground-breaking programme, investing £76m installing sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDs), in a trial that’s never been seen to this scale before in the UK.
This project will help create a blueprint for how we reduce surface water flooding using sustainable solutions and making the town more inviting for residents and biodiversity.
We’re installing rain gardens, swales, detention basins and permeable paving across the town, to slow rainwater down and help prevent the sewer network from becoming overwhelmed.
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. 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 EA 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 phosphates by the entire amount requested of us in the 2014 plan.
Unfortunately, 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 we know our investment alone won’t be enough to restore the river.
The area is also an important rural community with housing development planned to meet its future accommodation needs - stakeholders in the planning process, including the EA 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 EA, 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 assigned to us.
The Clun catchment is one of three SACs in our region that cover sections of rivers. Like the Clun, we’re also working with stakeholders including the EA and Natural England on plans for the River Mease in Leicestershire, and the Rivers Wye and Dove in the Peak District.
Having already invested significantly in upgrading our treatment works across all three catchments to reduce the impact of phosphates, we’re investing over £70 million to make sure that we’re playing our part in protecting these rivers through network upgrades, as well as initiating a partnership scheme with local farmers to reduce diffuse phosphate loads on the rivers Wye and Dove.
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 team of 10 River Rangers are a vital resource to ensure that we continue to work closely with our stakeholders to build vital relationships as we all work towards the goal of making our region’s rivers the healthiest they can be. Since January 2022 the team has attended over 110 meetings with partners, environment and community groups on the subject of river health and to spread awareness of the steps we continue to take to reduce our impact on the region’s rivers.
The team also 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.
If you would like to ask our River Rangers a question, you can email them at riverrangers@severntrent.co.uk
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.
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.
Community fund
While we don’t own our region's rivers, we recognise that we have an important role to play in improving river health.
Central to our third Get River Positive pledge is our commitment to use our existing Community Fund to support community groups and charities that are as passionate as us about improving our region’s rivers.
Since launching our Get River Positive focus for the Community Fund in 2022, we’ve already awarded over £278,000 of grants to four brilliant projects across our region that are set to have a positive impact on our region’s rivers.
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.
One of our recent projects was working with the British Trust for Ornithology to assist with the breeding of cuckoos and provide expert knowledge and access to our sites.
"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."