To make sure there’s enough for everyone, our water comes from a range of sources.​

This includes the ground, rivers and reservoirs. Growing populations and climate change put pressure on these resources. And even more pressure from agriculture, industry, tourism and recreation. That’s why a co-ordinated approach is needed to manage these. Read more about our catchment management plan here.

 

Our catchment management vision centres around what you tell us is important to you, legislative guidelines and our aspirations for our Love Every Drop strategy. Known as the catchment-based approach, it puts local communities at the heart of protecting and managing their local environments. ​

So what is catchment management? ​
It’s an environmentally friendly and potentially low-carbon method of influencing water quality at its source. Collectively addressing issues affecting out rivers and reservoirs can also help build better relationships with farmers, while preventing pollution and reducing the risk of flooding. This benefits the economy, and the environment too. Find out more about how we support our farmers here.​
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It’s the most sustainable way to protect water resources, helping us improve all UK waters while putting communities at the heart of protecting and managing their local environment. ​

Our plan​
Is to improve raw water quality and minimise the need for additional water treatment and to do this, we:​

 

  • work with key partners, such as farmers and local businesses, to understand the challenges and opportunities to safeguard raw water sources​
  • build on our existing information to understand the high risk and priority areas ​
  • use this data to show which initiatives will deliver the greatest benefits​
  • employ Catchment Advisers to investigate on the ground and identify/reduce pollution​
  • take a ‘catchment to coast’ approach to find and reduce pollution in our region’s coastal waters​
  • enhance biodiversity and manage invasive species​
  • support our region’s catchment partnerships.​

CamEO catchment partnership​
In order to improve our river and ground water sources, we co-host and run the CamEO catchment partnership with the Rivers Trust. We work:​
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  • strategically on water-sensitive farming projects, business investment, collaborative research and data analysis between scientists and local area users, community engagement, river restoration and non-native invasive species control​
  • locally supporting groups working with communities and  volunteers, delivering smaller-scale projects and/or tackling specific issues.​
  • with over 50 organisations contribute to the planning, development, event organisation and sourcing of funds for project delivery​


​Our annual action plan outlines our activities and is refreshed at the end of March every year: www.cameopartnership.org​

 

Further information