Affinity calls time on chalk stream abstraction

Affinity Water has committed to stop abstracting water from chalk streams by ceasing to take from the River Chess in the Chilterns with immediate effect, Utility Week can reveal.

Across its supply area, the company will work to cut groundwater abstraction in the Ver, Mimram, Upper Lea and Misbourne catchments by 2024.

To mark World Rivers Day tomorrow (27 September) the company has called time on unsustainable abstraction as it works to restore the habitats and biodiversity of waterways within its region.

Following years of investigation and trials with stakeholders including the Environment Agency (EA) and conservation groups, Affinity undertook a pilot earlier this year to understand the impact of reducing borehole abstraction on water supply. The company will continue to work with the EA to ensure public supplies and the environment suffer no adverse effects.

More than 85 per cent of the world’s chalk streams are found in England. These waterways are teeming with wildlife and have been likened to the Amazon rainforest and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. They are home to water crowfoot, flag iris, mayfly, brown trout, kingfisher, otters and the nationally endangered water vole.

“Now is the time to take a different approach to protect these precious resources,” said Affinity’s head of corporate affairs Jake Rigg. “And equally importantly we are investing in new sources of water to ensure resilience throughout the region.”

He explained a plan is in place to restore the waterways and still deliver water to the ever-growing population.

Local environmental groups welcomed the move including Chilterns Chalk Streams, whose project officer Allen Beechey said: “The effects of climate change on the health of chalk streams are as undeniable as the impact of our high-water use. It is clear that, if we are to protect the chalk streams we cherish, we need to leave more water in the environment than ever before.  The significant reductions in abstraction that Affinity Water have committed to and a desire to move towards more environmentally sustainable sources of water represents a step change in the way in which streams like the Chess, Ver and Mimram are valued and will go a long way towards reversing the decline of these truly special streams.”

Chalk stream restoration has hit headlines this year thanks to environmental groups and former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey who has loudly criticised the EA for failing to protect, and water companies for polluting these rivers.

Together with Good Law Project, Sharkey will next month launch a judicial review into the management of waterways by Defra and the EA.

Speaking at a Chalk Aquifer Alliance webinar this week, Sharkey accused water regulators of failing to meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive to return UK rivers to “good” ecological status. He said the EA and Defra had discredited themselves by missing targets to restore waterways and that government had “used a get-out clause” to extend the target dates to 2027 when the initial 2015 goal was missed.

EA and Defra have amended abstraction licences to safeguard chalk streams. In Southern’s region, the company is limited to the amount of water it can take from the rivers Test and Itchen in Hampshire, especially during hot periods. The company was poised to apply for a drought permit after continued dry weather left flow levels low in the River Test, however as the summer ended flow levels recovered and the permit has not yet been needed.

In January the EA updated drought guidance and urged water companies to act proactively to protect streams.