Drone patrols to curb illegal water abstractions

The Environment Agency (EA) will use drones for the first time this summer to gather information about illegal abstraction in East Anglia’s fenland areas.

The EA manages abstraction to balance the needs of the environment with the rights of lawful water users during periods of dry weather.

Regulatory officers carry out high visibility patrols every year throughout the irrigation season to ensure landowners and farmers are adhering to the conditions of their licences and do not harm the environment.

Last year’s heatwave led to a number of licence holders breaching their conditions and this year some illegal abstractions have already been uncovered.

If irrigators are found to be abstracting illegally, enforcement action could be taken in the form of written warnings, civil sanctions, referral to the Rural Payments Agency or prosecution.

Andrew Chapman, environment planning specialist for the EA in East Anglia, said: “Following on from the hot and dry summer we experienced in 2018, our area has not received the winter rainfall we would normally expect and this is placing significant pressure on the water environment.

“We have contacted irrigators who have licences that permit abstraction from the Middle Level to inform them that restrictions are likely to be required during the irrigation season.

“We will be prioritising our water resources compliance work over the summer period in those catchments that are at risk from this prolonged dry period.”

Chapman added: “This will be the first time we have ever used drones for this purpose. The majority of irrigators do operate within their licence conditions. However, last year a minority of farmers did not play by the rules and severely restricted other people’s ability to irrigate their crops.”

A third party will be employed to operate the drone, which connects to a web portal, so that EA staff can view the images via computer and direct the device to fly over certain locations.

This year, the EA has employed five new environment officers to help manage the water resources issue. Their role includes identifying licence holders at risk of water restrictions and making them aware of the possible shortages.

They will also carry out inspections in the catchments where more intense abstraction takes place. In the east of the region, the frequency of compliance checks and patrols is also increasing.

Michael Neale, land and water team leader in Essex, said: “We have an intelligence-led approach to all compliance checks. We will always respond to reports of illegal abstraction.

“We are going to up our response out of hours to reports wherever they come from. We will have more resources on hand to bolster our approach.”