We recently welcomed the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed MP, the Chairman of the Environment Agency Alan Lovell, and DEFRA Director of Water Sebastian Catovsky to our Chamber Mead wetlands. During their visit, the South East Rivers Trust team highlighted the multiple benefits of working with nature to tackle river pollution and other environmental issues.
Promoting Nature-Based Solutions
During the visit, we explained how nature-based solutions significantly reduce river pollution. Moreover, we found the new Government’s interest in these innovative approaches encouraging. To help our rivers recover more widely, we emphasised the need for the Government’s support to rapidly scale up these projects.
Dr. Bella Davies, CEO South East Rivers Trust, said:“We are delighted to host the Secretary of State at the Chamber Mead wetland today. The wetland tackles sewage and urban road runoff pollution before it enters the Hogsmill River, which is a rare chalk stream, one of around 220 in the world, supporting a unique set of species dependent on the chalk-purified water. We are glad that the new Government sees the wide benefits of nature-based solutions and we urge them to take action to break down barriers to these kinds of projects and support organisations such as ours to deliver more at scale in the future.”
Governments Commitment to Water Quality
We’re pleased to hear that the new Government acknowledge the importance of improving water quality, which was highlighted in the King’s Speech, with plans for water industry reform. However, we emphasised the need for ambitious action on agricultural pollution, road run-off, and over-abstraction. We delivered this message directly to Steve Reed MP during his visit.
Exploring Chamber Mead Wetland
Steve Reed MP toured the Chamber Mead wetland with Rivers Trust CEO Mark Lloyd and SERT CEO Dr. Bella Davies. Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency, and Sebastian Catovsky, DEFRA Director of Floods and Water, also joined the visit. Chamber Mead demonstrates how nature-based solutions can vastly improve our waterways and combat river pollution. We have redirected the water from the Green Lanes Stream through a sediment trap and two wetlands instead of letting it run straight into the Hogsmill River. At the other end, we connected the wetland to the Hogsmill River downstream of the stepping stones. As they develop, the wetlands will provide diverse habitats and amenities to the Hogsmill Local Nature Reserve and improve water quality for a 200-metre section of this rare chalk stream.
The Chamber Mead wetlands help conserve the Hogsmill River, a rare chalk stream. This project cleans 250 million litres of water through natural systems, effectively combating pollution. The wetlands are part of a broader partnership between the Rivers Trust and The Coca-Cola Foundation.
Looking Ahead
The visit underscored the importance of these projects and the need for continued support. With the backing of the Government and our partners, we can achieve significant progress in restoring and protecting our rivers.
For more information on our projects and how you can get involved, visit the South East Rivers Trust website. Join us in making a difference for rivers across the South East.
We’re calling on you to join the #VoteforRivers campaign run by the Rivers Trust in the lead-up to the General Election on Thursday 4th July.
This is your chance to use the power we have as voters to advocate for nature restoration and to take this vital opportunity to speak up for healthy rivers.
We’ve set out asks under five headings, whether you plan to seek answers from candidates who come knocking on the door, question them at local hustings or want to write to them.
You can find the candidates running in your area using The Electoral Commissionand download the letter to write to them, or have the asks handy when meeting candidates in person.
We want you to ask the new Government to:
1. Prioritise nature recovery – make nature-based solutions like trees and wetlands to improve the environment and tackle climate change as first choice, rather than relying on chemicals and concrete.
For example, we at the South East Rivers Trust have just completed Chamber Mead wetlands in Ewell, Surrey, which diverts road runoff away from the River Hogsmill. Plants being established there will also bring huge biodiversity benefits to the Hogsmill Local Nature Reserve.
We are working on restoring water voles, eels and trout via our WET Hogsmill project, we have restored a section of the River Blackwater in Hampshire and the Wandle in Morden Hall Park with woody debris and by adding gravel.
2. Improve our understanding of rivers – support better data and evidence to improve regulatory monitoring and recognise the value of citizen science alongside it.
Through our work engaging the public and encouraging them to take part in citizen science, we collect data on the health of our rivers. Examples include training volunteers to:
Discover how much misconnected plumbing is in our rivers through our Outfall Safari work
Carry out riverfly monitoring to judge the health of rivers and whether there has been pollution, by finding invertebrates
3. Support education and engagement about rivers – No one will protect what they don’t know about or understand – and what they have not experienced. So we need the Government to support education about the environment and rivers at all levels.
The South East Rivers Trust has an extensive education programme
The South East Rivers Trust has programmes supporting education of primary school children and community groups across London catchments and the River Mole.
Our events also demonstrate the value of our work through walks and talks across a wide range of topics and we take part in awareness campaigns such as London Rivers Week.
4. Make polluters pay – drive strong enforcement of those who pollute to turn the tide on the abuse of our rivers.
We have recently supported a campaign to clear Hoad’s Wood in Ashford of fly-tipping. After a petition, the Government has now issued a clean-up edict which will cost the taxpayer huge sums. Nobody has yet been traced to pay for the clean-up.
5. Manage land with water in mind – empower collaborative working that gets everyone involved in restoring our rivers.
Leaky wooden dams are a nature-based solution used by SERT on the River Beult among other places
At the South East Rivers Trust we lead several catchment partnerships across 12 river catchments. These work collaboratively with many other organisations and individuals to bring rivers back to life. They need investment and funding to do so.
Our Holistic Water for Horticulture project also works with food growers in Kent and the South East to ensure water efficiency and resilience in the process of getting food from farm to fork.
This is part of the work of our Water and Land Stewardship team, which has worked closely with farmers on the River Beult in Kent on nature-based solutions to retain water and enhance biodiversity, for the benefit of wildlife and people. We are involved in national pilots for Environmental Land Management Schemes, funded by Government, working with farms to manage land in sustainable ways.
For example, we are working with farmers and landowners and other environment NGOs on the River Darent catchment to implement a radical, large-scale approach to delivering climate benefits – starting with rivers.
Here are some questions you can ask your candidates
How will you and your party tackle all types of pollution in our rivers? Sewage is not the only issue; farming and road runoff pollution are also devastating our rivers.
Will your party boost funding for regulators and strengthen enforcement so polluters are made to pay for their pollution?
How will your party work with nature to improve river health and tackle climate change?
How will your party open up rivers and blue spaces in our towns and cities for health and wellbeing?
How will your party support farmers and businesses manage their land sustainably for water?
No matter where you live across our 12 catchments, there is a river near you. Find our river using our map, using your postcode. There a hundreds of candidates standing for constituencies from Berkshire through Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and south London who want your vote – so press them on the hot topics!
If you are writing to your candidates, you could use or adapt the Rivers Trust’s template, by copying and pasting the information below or adding in your own asks on rivers. Don’t forget you can source candidate details via The Electoral Commission.
Dear [Candidate name],
I will be voting for rivers in the General Election on 4th July 2024 and, as a local resident and voter, need to know how you intend to stand up for our waterways.
The Rivers Trust’s State of Our Rivers Report 2024 lays bare the dire health of our waterways, which are facing devastating levels of pollution, swinging between extremes of flood and drought, and experiencing shocking drops in biodiversity:
0% of stretches of river in England are in good or high overall health.
This is not breaking news – the issues faced by our rivers have been hitting the headlines for years and causing widespread public outcry. Yet not enough is being done to restore or protect our waterways.
Healthy rivers should be a priority for the next Government. From re-wiggling rivers, restoring floodplains, and greening our urban spaces, restoring our rivers means securing community resilience, a future for wildlife, and action for climate.
This is why I am supporting The Rivers Trust’s asks for political candidates and parties:
Prioritise nature recovery – make nature-based solutions like trees and wetlands to improve the environment and tackle climate change first choice, rather than relying on chemicals and concrete.
Improve our understanding of rivers – support better data and evidence to improve regulatory monitoring and recognise the value of citizen science alongside it.
Support education about rivers – no one will understand or care about what they haven’t experienced. Outdoor learning is key to nurturing a lifelong love of rivers.
Make polluters pay – drive strong enforcement of those who pollute to turn the tide on the abuse of our rivers.
Manage land with water in mind – empower collaborative working that gets everyone involved in restoring our rivers.
Please let me know what actions you and your party intend to take to deliver the asks above and restore the health of our waterways.
I look forward to hearing from you and, if possible, please copy info@theriverstrust.org in your reply.
Chamber Mead wetlands and their importance to the River Hogsmill were recognised at the 2024 Edie Sustainability Awards in London last night (6th March).
The wetlands were recently completed in Surrey on a stretch of the Hogsmill just south of London. They will filter pollutants and become a haven for wildlife protecting 5km of the river, which is a rare chalk stream.
Part of the Chamber Mead wetlands with the public bridge in the background
This is a fantastic example of a nature-based solution improving the condition of our rivers. The project has diverted a contaminated tributary into the wetlands, which act as a filter before reconnecting cleaner water into the Hogsmill downstream of the famous Stepping Stones.
One of only about 210 chalk streams in the world, the Hogsmill suffers from urban road runoff, raw sewage discharges and misconnected plumbing that sends drain water directly into the river. A healthy chalk stream’s pure water, stable temperature and flows provide longer growing seasons than other rivers and support important habitat for species such as brown trout and native crayfish.
Creation of the wetlands has been carried out in partnership with Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, which owns and manages the Hogsmill Local Nature Reserve, a popular greenspace which will now benefit from this new community asset.
Bella Davies, Co-CEO of the South East Rivers Trust, said: “We couldn’t be more delighted that the Chamber Mead project has been recognised by the Edie Awards. The project has been more than 10 years in development. It has brought together a wide range of partners and funders to step up and share responsibility for improving water quality in the Hogsmill river, one of the country’s rare and precious urban chalk streams.
Dr Bella Davies at the Edie Awards
“Wetlands such as these are a great way to improve water quality, especially in urban areas, in this case by filtering water from one of the Hogsmill’s headwater tributaries. This water has been contaminated by toxic urban road runoff and sewage from storm tank overflows and misconnected pipes. The water will now enter the Hogsmill after it has been cleaned by the wetlands and help bring back endangered river wildlife such as brown trout and eels.
“We’re also thrilled that the public will see the wetlands develop into a space where wildlife such as dragonflies, birds and butterflies can thrive providing more opportunities to experience nature on their doorstep.”
SERT is now preparing a series of planting days for schools, community groups and the public to take place in the Spring, as well as an open day to introduce the project to the community.
Supported by the Hogsmill Catchment Partnership, the Chamber Mead Wetland project has received funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, Natural England (through the Species Recovery Programme), the Environment Agency, Surrey County Council, the Rivers Trust, the Zoological Society of London, Garfield Weston Foundation and Thames Water, with in-kind support from the landowner Epsom & Ewell Borough Council.
The new wetlands are part of the wider Replenish programme in partnership with the Coca-Cola Foundation and the Rivers Trust. The aim of Replenish is to restore millions of litres of water in this and other local catchments, in turn improving biodiversity.
Sharing a stand with the Kent Wildlife Trust at the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match in September gave us a fantastic platform to tell the public all about rivers – and in particular our work nearby, writes Cleo Alper, our River Medway Catchment Officer.
SERT and Kent Wildlife Trust at the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match. Picture by Anne Tipples
The popular annual ploughing match, run since 1947, was held near Tonbridge alongside the River Beult, where we have carried out a great deal of work, including nature-based solutions to improve water sources on land.
Demonstrating what’s in the River Beult with a Riverfly spot check
Through a Riverfly sample we sourced on the day, we demonstrated some of the life below the surface in the River Medway – of which the Beult is a tributary.
We were able to discuss with the public the importance of monitoring our waters for riverflies – mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies – which are at the heart of freshwater ecosystems and a vital link in the aquatic food chain. Visitors to our stall were delighted to learn about these species and also see we had found shrimp and pea mussel, among other creatures.
It was inspiring to talk to more than 100 people who had a wide range of interests, knowledge and experiences of the river and local wildlife.
We had encouraging conversations around observations of what is happening with our rivers and about what the community would like to see in the future.
Listing what we found in our river sample taken from the Medway
The event demonstrated both how much local people are aware of the importance of their local river and the range of concerns they have. These include diminishing wildlife and nature, water quality issues, and low water flow.
Collaborating with Kent Wildlife Trust on the stall was a real pleasure. A shared stand allowed us to talk about the work we are doing in partnership to restore rivers and our landscape and to showcase the wide range of partnership work and restoration occurring in the River Beult, one of four catchments on the Medway, and beyond.
Among the work we spoke about were the benefits of natural flood management and how these manage flood risk, increase water storage and create habitat. We also spoke about the benefits of nature-based solutions and our work on the River Teise. Here we are working on restoring wetlands to create more habitat and increase resilience to low water flows, plus putting in leaky woody structures to improve the river flow and the range of habitat. We are currently working on installing a backwater to increase biodiversity and prevent flooding.
We also told the public about our PROWATER work, managing landscapes to retain water for longer, the results of which include restoring key habitats and healthy soils and grasslands.
Our Co-CEO Hester Liakos with staff at the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match
The Water and Land Stewardship Team at the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) is working directly with Thanet Earth, the largest food grower using a glasshouse in the UK, to support them on a pathway to greater water resilience.
This is part of our Holistic Water For Horticulture work, an initiative that supports growers across Kent with sustainable water management.
Thanet Earth estimates that it produces about 400 million tomatoes, 30 million cucumbers and 24 million peppers every year. To meet its water needs, the company pumps in groundwater and collects rainwater and condensation from the glasshouses (imagine a greenhouse on an industrial size). However, this is becoming increasingly unsustainable as the company grows and climate change bites.
The drought of summer 2022 was a wake-up call for many commercial food growers, who already faced unprecedented challenges in a time of environmental uncertainty and burgeoning economic constraints.
Thanet Earth glasshouse has its own reservoir
Extreme changes in seasonal weather patterns, water availability and rising prices for materials, fuel and other goods are just some of the factors affecting the sector as never before. At the same time, measures for food security and environmental sustainability must work hand in hand for the benefit of all.
Kent-based growers already work in an area that is classed as water-stressed, a designation that applies to all of the south east of England. In times of prolonged extreme heat and little to no rainfall such as 2022, restrictions can be applied to protect the environment and ensure that there is enough water for all.
Water is the foundation upon which horticulture businesses are built. The issue of water is particularly relevant for crops that grow under glass or plastic (protected crops), since sufficient quantities of good quality water must be used during the growing season.
Over the next year, SERT’s Water and Land Stewardship team will be investigating options to increase the water supply resilience of the Thanet Earth site. This includes measures to collect, store, abstract and share water, within the context of sustainable water management in the region.
The SERT team will help identify funding options to support the implementation of measures and facilitate contact with key stakeholders and practitioners. These include the local water company, other water abstractors and government agencies. We’ll also help navigate the changes to legislation for water abstraction resulting from the 25 Year Environment Plan and the implementation of the Environment Act 2021.
Water supply of crops at is carefully managed at Thanet Earth
Pleun van Malkenhorst, Managing Director of Rainbow UK (Thanet Earth), said: “As one of the largest local business water users, we are very aware of our responsibility to do so sustainably. By working directly with The Water and Land Stewardship Team at the South East Rivers Trust this will help us to continually improve the way we utilise water on site.”
Dr Samantha Jane Hughes, Senior Water and Land Stewardship Officer at SERT leading on the project, said: “We are really looking forward to working with Thanet Earth over the coming year on how to improve water resilience for a business that is already highly innovative when it comes to alternative sources of water such as rainwater and even condensation harvesting.
Thanet Earth is the largest glasshouse food producer in the UK
“The challenges for this sector are real and we will have to think out of the box and consult with different specialists in order to build a resilient pathway that supports the business, helps to ensure food security and does not impact the environment.”
The HWH project supports food and drink businesses through the Courtauld Commitment 2030 Water Roadmap, a voluntary commitment that supermarkets, food brands and the businesses that supply them sign up to protect critical water resources for food production, nature and local communities.
The key target of the C2030 roadmap is that 50% of the UK’s fresh food is sourced from areas with sustainable water management.
The HWH project works across the sector to identify site-specific measures to improve water self-sufficiency of growers and to reduce impacts caused by excess water runoff through nature-based solutions.
Would you like us to visit your farm and develop a free plan on using water? Contact us by clicking on this link.
River lovers are being urged to sign an open letter calling on all political parties to adopt a five-point plan for wildlife in their manifestos for the next General Election, likely to take place in 2024.
The Rivers Trust movement has joined an 80-strong coalition of partners to support the Nature 2030 Campaign. It is led by the Wildlife and Countryside Link and supported by celebrities including television personalities Steve Backshall and Chris Packham.
Research shows that the UK has become one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with more than one in seven native wildlife species facing extinction.
The campaign outlines that in 2022 sewage was discharged for more than 2.4 million hours across England, Scotland and Wales, accounting for more than 389,000 sewage spills. Commitments were set in 2021 to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, but there’s a long way to go to meet these targets. With only seven years to go, just 3% of land and 4% of sea have this protection. We need stronger environmental leadership and the Nature 2030 campaign demands it.
Thousands of people have already signed the letter, which was launched at Westminster in July.
As one of the largest regional rivers trusts, the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) is urging supporters to back the campaign, which has five key asks for political parties:
Double the wildlife-friendly farming budget to £6bn for ambitious farm improvements and large-scale nature restoration
Make polluters pay for nature restoration by requiring big businesses to deliver environmental improvement plans and funding to counter damage
Create green jobs on a large scale, including setting up a National Nature Service delivering wide-scale habitat restoration
Increase protection and funding for wildlife sites by creating a Public Nature Estate to fulfil the promise to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature by 2030
Set up a new law guaranteeing a right to a healthy environment, establishing a human right to clean air and water plus access to nature, plus building nature into decision making
Hester Liakos, co-CEO of SERT, said: “Rivers are at the heart of the battle to restore nature. Our work with local communities, farmers and landowners demonstrates the positive difference that nature based solutions and natural flood management can make in improving the health and biodiversity of rivers. But to make this difference on the scale that nature truly needs requires more funding and greater commitment and leadership from Government – so we’re asking our supporters to sign this open letter to demand action from all political leaders.”
Tessa Wardley, Director of Communications and Advocacy at the Rivers Trust, said: “The public are rightfully outraged by the state of our rivers and we need political parties to make firm commitments towards their recovery, which are then backed up by action. Delivering the Nature 2030 policies would significantly improve the health of our rivers, which are absolutely core to tackling the biodiversity, climate and wellbeing crises we face as a nation and planet.”
One day in spring, in the middle of the woods of deepest darkest Kent, the South East Rivers Trust led a ‘safari’ to discover the value of nature-based solutions in increasing the resilience of our catchments and communities.
During the past few years, the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) has been developing a series of nature-based solutions for water with landowners in the Upper Beult Farm Cluster in Kent. Nature-based solutions for water (NbS for water) are features that hold back water in the landscape, slowing it down and filtering it so that water resources are replenished and flooding and pollution is reduced. These NbS include leaky woody dams, offline ponds and pasture management.
Explorers from a range of organisations navigated woods, wetlands and farmland to spot and learn about these NbS, covering four farms of the Upper Beult farm cluster.
Firstly, it was to demonstrate how these solutions can underpin water resources provision, as well as achieve nature recovery and other social and environmental benefits.
Secondly, we wanted our guests to imagine what benefits could be achieved if these NbS could be “scaled up”, such as across the whole of the River Medway catchment, of which the Beult is just one part.
Finally, we were keen to spark thought and discussion among our guests about potential partnerships and support that could facilitate this ambition.
The 30-strong party of intrepid NbS explorers were led by Kathi Bauer, SERT’s Senior Natural Capital Officer – and the list of organisations represented was a long one. It included staff from Southern Water, which has supported the development of the NbS with the Upper Beult farming cluster.
Others interested to find out more came from SES Water, the Upper Medway Internal Drainage Board, Water Resources South East, Kent County Council, Kent Wildlife Trust, Waitrose, Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), the Marden farming cluster, the Forestry Commission and Swale Borough Council.
The safari showcased work that we had initiated through our Interreg2Seas PROWATER project, and further work we have continued with Southern Water’s support. These efforts were the culmination of several years’ work. As we outlined earlier this year, the PROWATER project alone has helped retain more than 60 million litres of water (enough to fill 24 Olympic sized swimming pools) annually.
Kathi explained how we had worked closely with farmers and landowners. She outlined how we had used our expertise to identify, develop and implement appropriate NbS to regulate the flow of water at appropriate locations in the upper catchment of the Beult.
What types of nature-based solutions were explored?
Leaky woody dams were a key solution spotted on the safari: by placing branches and logs across channels and land where water is known to flow, water is held back and “spills” from the channels to create a small wetland. The result is that instead of heavy rainfall running straight off the land, its movement is more gradual. This means its contribution to the flow of the River Beult (an important source for water supply) is spread across many more months of the year.
Holding water in the landscape in this way also means creating richer and more diverse habitat, attracting vegetation, invertebrates and birds that feed on them.
Offline ponds – separated from the river network – were also part of the safari. Offline ponds can be created in natural depressions in the land where water is directed using leaky woody dams. By retaining water, they supplement the Beult’s summer flows and also boost plant and invertebrate biodiversity.
Pasture Management – the benefits of mob grazing were also outlined as part of the safari. If cattle feed on small sections of their grazing land one piece at a time, grass and other vegetation is able to recover and establish. Water soaks into the soil better, with benefits including slowing the run-off of rainwater and pasture that is more resilient to drought.
Together, these nature-based solutions are managing the landscape for water and helping to address water scarcity in the south east, while also providing a range of additional benefits including natural habitat improvements. These solutions are therefore key to reversing the declining trend in biodiversity. According to the Natural History Museum, the world has already gone through the “safe limit for humanity” of biodiversity loss. The UK, its analysis says, has an average of only 53% of its biodiversity left and is in the bottom 10% of countries globally – and last among the G7 countries.
Multiple nature-based solutions all add up, which is central to the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) principal of managing landscapes as a whole, rather than as separate sections of river or land in isolation.
This is central to our thinking at SERT and something with which those on this NbS Safari agreed: we need to make more of this happen.
For more information and to get in touch about developing nature-based solutions in the landscape, contact Cat Moncrieff, our Head of Water and Land Stewardship. Contact us at info@southeastriverstrust.org or by telephone, on 0845 092 0110.
There is no doubt that we are going through a massive and positive paradigm shift. It is finally hitting home that human activities thoroughly depend on the health of the natural environment and the sustainability of the many services it provides. The natural environment has rapidly moved from the periphery to the very centre of conversations, with action on fundamental issues from our own well-being to agriculture and the economy.
Humans are an increasingly urban species, although a major consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is how we have come to realise the importance on being in contact with Nature, and how Nature can provide us with many solutions to the problems we create.
One of those problems is road runoff. Most of us are highly dependent upon cars or other vehicles and the massive road network carved into our catchments, to get us or the goods we buy from one place to another.
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