CATCHMENTS - the facts

Within the county of Somerset, we operate in several major In AMP7 (2020-2025), we will extend our work with farmers in hydrological catchments: the catchment upstream of the abstraction point for • The Parrett catchment. • The Tone catchment. Water Treatment Centre to reduce pesticide runoff from agricultural land. • The Coastal Streams catchment. • The Bristol Avon, Brue and Axe catchments and the Key investments completed to 2020 headwaters of the Otter and Stour catchments. Nutrients Key Issues By the end of AMP6 (2020) we have installed phosphorus removal at: Sewage treatment Site Approximate Year Approximate Within the Somerset Catchment Partnership area, we operate cost (£k) Phosphorus removed 155 Water Recycling Centres (WRC, formerly known as sewage (tonnes/year) treatment works), 601 Sewage Pumping Stations and 311 Storm Pilton 700 2020 0.2 Overflows (SO). 850 2020 1.1 Nutrients Ilton 800 2020 0 One of the main issues to affect the Somerset catchments is the impact of nutrients in rivers and wetlands. This is primarily Thornford 2,000 2020 0.9 from phosphorus, although nitrogen can also have an effect Sparkford 750 2020 0.4 particularly around our coasts and estuaries. Phosphorus causes 700 2020 0.5 eutrophication (where the nutrients cause excessive growth of plant life) in rivers and wetlands and is a particular problem for 2,850 2019 44.3 protected sites in the . Wellington 1,150 2018 4.1 Bathing waters 3,700 2014 19.6 It is important to protect bathing water quality for recreational Sherborne 1,400 2014 4.1 users of our seas and some inland waters. Water quality around the Somerset coast is affected by many factors, including our own Wells 1,000 2014 7.8 discharges from treatment works and SOs, but also by diffuse 3,800 2013 5.1 pollution in river catchments upstream of bathing waters. Evercreech 1,400 2014 2.3 We have invested in upgrading our sewerage and sewage treatment infrastructure at various locations to improve bathing 2,000 2015 7.1 waters by: • increasing storage in our network (to reduce the number of Environmental investment discharges from SOs) • Durleigh Wetlands Project - in 2019 we completed • installing ultraviolet treatment to improve the quality of our construction of a new large-scale wetland (at an approximate discharges cost of £1 million) upstream of our reservoir at Durleigh • installing monitoring equipment so that we understand when our () to remove heavy suspended sediments in the SOs operate. water entering the reservoir and prevent it silting up. We also improved habitats in the Durleigh Brook and reverted eight For example, at Burnham-on-Sea in 2019 we completed a £39 hectares of to . million scheme to upgrade infrastructure around the mouth of the and in Bridgwater to help improve the bathing water • Sutton Bingham, Durleigh, Ashford, Hawkridge, Leigh quality of Burnham Jetty. and Luxhay Catchment Biodiversity Projects – we mapped priority habitats for wildlife within these catchments and Water supply provide advice and funding to landowners to make biodiversity Within the catchment, we operate 11 water treatment centres and improvements alongside steps to reduce risk of pollution. nearly 200 distribution sites (including 10 large surface reservoirs). • Biodiversity Partners Programme - provided more than Pesticides and source protection £280,000 to projects within Somerset since 1998, including: • Somerset Floodplain & Catchment Woodland project (2010- Land upstream of our large surface reservoirs has been designated 2015 with FWAG SW) as safeguard zones by the . • Parrett Rivers Project (2002-2006 with Somerset Wildlife Within these areas, certain substances must be managed carefully Trust & FWAG SW) to prevent the pollution of the raw water sources (including • Somerset Biodiversity Partnership (2010-2015) fertilisers and pesticides). • Ham Wall Reedbed (1998-2006, with the RSPB) We work with farmers in these zones to: • Westhay Reedbed and Heath (1998-2002, with Somerset • raise awareness of surface water quality issues Wildlife Trust) • share results of water, soil, crop and manure testing that we have • Resource protection in the Parrett Catchment (2006-2010 carried out for them with FWAG SW) • provide advice and information • Brue Valley Living Landscapes Project (2006-2010 with • compensate farmers (where appropriate) for adopting more ) water friendly alternative practices (such as buffer strips).

wessexwater.co.uk • Rewe Mead Nature Reserve Improvement Project and • , Burnham-on-Sea and Weston-super-Mare – Blackwater & Brown hairstreaks projects (2015-2018, with bathing water investigations to understand the influence of our Somerset Wildlife Trust) discharges on bathing water quality. • Conservation, Access and Recreation – 26 projects delivering • South & West Catchments – understanding improvements for biodiversity and access on our sites, phosphorus levels from our discharges on the receiving including: tree and bat roost assessments; management of environment and also affecting our assets. woodland and scheduled ancient monuments; enabling beaver • Sutton Bingham, and Durleigh – quantifying risk trials on the headwaters of the River Otter; improved visitor from grazing livestock around reservoirs as a potential option interpretation. for managing grassland for biodiversity. • Streamclean team – tackling sewerage misconnections. • Somerton WRC – investigation to discover the effectiveness of reed beds for sewage treatment and nutrient removal at 24 investigations completed 2010-2020: Somerton WRC, and more widely at WRCs discharging to the • Lam Brook – evaluating the impacts of our abstractions on the Somerset Levels and Moors. stream. • Nutscale, Clatworthy, Hele Bridge, River Yeo, Hawkridge, • Cannington Stream, River Tone, Durleigh Brook, River Tone Durleigh, Ashford, Bridgwater and Currypool – eel & Yeo and Sutton Bingham Stream – investigations into investigations. impacts associated with our reservoirs on these watercourses Somerset Catchment Partnership (including ecology) and implementation of measures to improve We have supported the Somerset Catchment Partnership since its environmental quality at some locations. inception and provide £10,000 annual funding.

Planned investment 2020-2025 Catchment nutrients • Catchment nutrient balancing – within parts of In addition to ongoing expenditure on our waste and water supply treatment the River Tone and Parrett catchments, we intend and network assets, our business plan sets out the following key expenditure: to work with farmers to reduce levels of phosphorus New phosphorus removal from their land management to balance the need to reduce phosphorus levels from our WRCs. This is a Site Approx Additional Approximate more sustainable and nature-based approach which Phosphorus Phosphorus Cost (£m) removed (at 2020) removed by 2024 combines nutrient reduction with other benefits, (tonnes/year) (tonnes/year) such as improvements for biodiversity and flooding. • Somerset Levels and Moors Wetland – delivering Brue & Axe water quality (nutrients) and biodiversity Upper Brue 2.3 0.6 improvements to nationally and internationally important sites for nature conservation. Lower Brue 7.1 2.9 8 Environmental investigations Sheppey 12.9 5.6 • WRC – determine the impact of West Somerset Coastal Streams the WRC on the Petherton Stream. Brook 0.4 0.8 • Nitrogen and phosphorus reductions – Durleigh Reservoir. Parrett • Invasive non-native species (biosecurity Cary 6.0 Improvements) – at Nutscale, Clatworthy, Isle, Fivehead and West 15.6 Hawkridge, Currypool, Ashford, Durleigh, Luxhay, Leigh and Sutton Bingham. • Invasive non-native species (raw water transfer Lower Parrett 3.5 44 risk assessments) – at Albert Street, Currypool, Lower Parrett Western Streams 1.5 Wimbleball, Hele Bridge and Otterhead. Parrett Headwaters 14.4 • Improvements to assets for Eel Passage – Clifton Maybank (near Yeovil), Albert Street (Bridgwater). Yeo 25.5 14.5 Biodiversity Parrett (Tone) The following projects will be undertaken across the Lower Tone 55.8 region, but are likely to include sites Northern Tone 3.7 4 within Somerset: Upper Tone 4.1 1.4 • Maximising opportunities for birds at our water recycling centres. Total 107.7 70.1 56.8 • Priority habitat restoration and recreation.

You can access more information about our work in the • Find out about our Drainage and Wastewater Somerset catchments on our website — Management Plans including the location and Find wessexwater.co.uk/environment frequency of operation of our storm overflows. • View sample results and flow data from our water • Use our interactive investigations map to download out recycling centres on our Marketplace website. more information on each investigation. • Read our business plan for details of our investments • Read more about our catchment management work. more over AMP7 (2020-2025).

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