Welcome to the third issue of Water Resources East’s quarterly newsletter – the latest developments in water resources and integrated water management taking place across the Eastern region.
First a note on the weather. Despite temperatures being high right now, the latest monthly water situation report from the Environment Agency shows a much more positive position for abstractors and irrigators following a very wet July, with most areas receiving at least 150% of the monthly average rainfall and soil moisture deficits reducing. Reservoir stocks are healthy and the cold, wet summer meant household demand didn’t spike as it did last year. WRE’s multi-sector Drought Group met on 17 August to discuss the situation and what our priorities should be as the irrigation season draws to a close. We’re keen to maintain momentum and continue to work on potential opportunities to share water between sectors in case they’re needed next year.
Work is proceeding at pace on our final regional plan ahead of it being published by the end of the year. We will be setting out the headlines of this at our next Strategic Advisory Group webinar on 24 October. Water company revised draft WRMPs are starting to be published and these have been informed by a new round of regional modelling and inter-regional reconciliation.
Following the open call for board members in May I’m delighted to let you know that the board has approved the appointment of the following two non-executive directors:
• New principal funding director: Paul Mumford, representing Urban&Civic.
• New stakeholder director: Kathryn Mackenzie, from the RevIvel Association and the Upper & Bedford Ouse Catchment Partnership.
There are other board changes too, with David Thomas stepping down as ADA’s representative following his retirement as CEO of the Middle Level Commissioners, and Hannah Stanley-Jones stepping back as Anglian Water’s nominated director. They will be replaced by Giles Bloomfield from the Water Management Alliance, and Dr Geoff Darch from Anglian Water. Welcome both!
We are also recruiting for a new programme manager to help us launch and scale the Norfolk Water Fund, our flagship scheme to blend public and private investment in nature-based solutions. You can find more details here.
Finally, a huge thank you to ADA for inviting us to take part in their Flood and Water Live event in July at Dyson Farms near Boston. It was a fantastic two day event, and as well as our own regional plan, we were pleased to showcase the work of the Water Farm Reservoir Group, the South Lincolnshire Water Partnership, and the Boston to Peterborough Wetland Corridor on our stand. A superb event, and we hope it takes place again next year.