Over 100 'Catchment Partners' appointed

Many of the problems facing rivers have their root causes in the catchment: diffuse pollution from fertilisers and pesticides coming from farmland, high levels of silt from roads and fields, lack of flow due to abstraction of ground water, flashy spates due to upland drainage. These are big issues and need co-operation between farmers, water companies, government agencies and organisations like the Rivers Trust and the WTT to resolve. And they need to be tackled at a catchment level so that they impact the whole river from source to sea.

In England and the Welsh borders, the EA and Defra have adopted a ​‘Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) and just appointed over 100 ​‘Catchment Partners’ who will lead the development and delivery of a Catchment Plan to resolve these issues. The Catchment Partners are locally based Rivers Trusts, Wildlife Trusts and similar charities. They have been given funding of around £11 – 12,000 per catchment to build their local partnerships (‘stakeholder engagement’) and develop a catchment plan.

The WTT will be working with Catchment Partners in the same way as we have always worked with groups who have any involvement in a river or lake. We will provide advice, deliver projects and, increasingly, train volunteers and professionals to enable them to deliver their Catchment Plans.

We have created a library page here with links to various documents and external websites for more information.