Will gleaming rivers rise from the murk of WFD?

Tim Longstaff

The Wandle Trust Presentation for IFM

7th March 2013

Summary

• Rivers Trusts

• The Wandle Trust

• WFD - opportunities and challenges

– Catchment Plans

– GEP

– The future – what happens next?

• WFD Projects

– Current and completed

Rivers Trusts

Independent organisations working to improve the

health of rivers for environmental & public benefit

Ideal partners for WFD delivery Originate from the community

• Formed when local people become concerned for their river • Charitable Trusts • Local knowledge and expertise

National coverage

• Over 40 trusts • National body; The Rivers Trust Support existing RTs, encourage new RTs, secure funding, R+D

© Crown copyright and database rights 2013

• Seen as ‘honest brokers’ between EA and community

groups/other stakeholders

• Good at public and community interaction

Rivers Trusts get things done

• ‘Wet feet’ – practical catchment, river & fishery

improvement works

• Work is science/evidence based

• Practise ecosystems approach on catchment scale

• Deliver with community engagement where possible

• Ensure volunteers contributions are effective

Rivers Trusts

The Wandle Trust

An environmental charity dedicated to maintaining & restoring the health of the River Wandle and its catchment

•Formed mid-1990s

•concerned residents & anglers

•Established a Charity in 2000

•Wandle Piscators founded in 2004

•2007/8 a new era:

• A Rivers Trust

• Pollution & compensation -Bella

• Began more restoration work

The Wandle Trust: aims & objectives

The River Wandle will achieve Good Ecological Potential &

the Wandle catchment will set international standards for

urban community-driven sustainability and environmental

excellence in river rehabilitation and restoration.

• Partnership working with the community at the heart:

ownership & stewardship – better outcome with local

volunteers

• Science/evidence based action

1. Engagement

2. Education

3. Environmental improvement

4. Partnership & facilitation

Community engagement activities...

© S. Evans 2009

© S. Evans 2009

© D. Soar 2009

River Cleanups

D.Soar

Community engagement activities...

Trout in the Classroom

D.Soar

INNS

Habitat enhancements

River Restoration

WFD and the growth of the Wandle Trust

• Defra RIF –Fish passage (eels, salmonids)

• Recruit Catchment Project Officer - Me!

• Defra CRF – WFD based • Recruit Catchment Project Officer – Toby Hull • Expanding work to the Hogsmill, Beverley Brook, Mole

• South East Rivers Trust (SERT)

• EA And RT keen to fill gap in SE England • Spreading the Wandle model of scientific catchment

management and community engagement • Work in partnership and faciltate river improvements

A journey through the mists of WFD

‘’If you understand WFD then you haven’t explained WFD’’

A brief recent history of WFD

• RBMP 2009

– No local stakeholders and community input (or largely ignored)

– Lack of real data

– Interpolation of data between catchments

– Unworkable

• UK Government re-worked things and gave £110M for river improvement.

……….from a Rivers Trust perspective

Opportunity knocks!

For WFD delivery…….. • £28M for Catchment Restoration Fund (CRF)

For the Wandle Trust……… • £1M from various sources (mostly CRF) to deliver WFD

Catchment Plans

• Key to delivering River Restoration

• Getting under the bonnet of the river!

– What is working?

– What is broken?

– What can we do?

Catchment Plans

• Defra recognised this too

– Way of getting the local knowledge input into the RBMP

– Set up 25 Pilots and further 55 unofficial pilot schemes

• What is the best way of catchment planning?

– No guidance given

– Review process

BUT……..

• CPs to be produced after CRF fund allocated

• 80 very different plans

• Cant evaluate success until deliver plans

Challenges emerge.....

Result?……….

• ‘Incomplete’ plans - Work in progress

• Defra reviewing CPs that were unable to use all the data.

Catchment Plans

to be with DEFRA

EA info

gathering to

determine

why rivers failing

22 Dec 2012

The Wandle Catchment Plan

Two pronged approach

1. Public engagement

– Very important on Urban Rivers

2. Technical advisory group

– EA, water companies, Universities, Wildlife trusts etc...

The Wandle approach

What are we

aiming for ?

What is wrong

Currently?

How can we

improve things?

Technic

al

str

and

Com

mu

nity

str

and

GEP Data analysis Turn evidence

into plans

What want Wandle

to look like? Current problems? What could

we do?

A vision for all

-Linking WFD

to reality!

Analy

sis

and

report

ing

•Balancing needs

•Produce a plan!

Evidence

based

assessment

Challenges… Starting point: Consultation fatigue

‘Here comes another consultation to produce

another plan to sit on another shelf!’

Opportunities…

New approach - Ketso kit

‘’The most fun you will ever have with WFD!’’

Outcomes..

– 27 community workshops

– 500 people

– 99 questionairres

– 56 different organisations

Challenges with GEP

GEP defined as attaining ‘near reference’ conditions

Don’t exist in urban chalkstreams!

Number of scenarios for GEP exist – which is ‘correct’?

Ecosystem

function ? ?

?

?

GEP definition varies

• different points of view

• different aspirations

• money available

• time available etc…

Can be contentious!

Challenges with GEP

Solution • Use an Ecosystem Services approach

• Aim for multiple benefits not skewed to one service

Realism and Reaches

Functional Reach Functional Reach

Connecting

reach

• GEP varies dramatically between reaches

• Urban river Survey (URS): define functional and connecting

reaches (in development)

Ecosystems Approach: Multiple Benefits

E.g. Macrophytes, trees and wider river habitat improvements. Not just habitat and biodiversity benefits……….. • Regulating services

– Water purification – Water regulation – Hazard regualtion

• Provisioning services – Provision of freshwater

• Cultural services – Aesthetics – Recreational services – Educational opportunities

•Biodiversity

•e.g. Biodiversity 2020, Mayors London Plan

•Water Resource Management

•EA Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy

•Local authoritues surface water management plans

•Water companies water resource management plans

•Health and Wellbeing

•Mayor’s london plan

•LB wandsworths Health and wellbeing board

•Planning and green Infrastructure

•All london green grid

•Local authorities local plans

•Economic Growth

•Mayor’s London Plan

Overlap with other strategies: Multiple Benefits

“Someone who buys a drill, doesn’t want a drill, they want a hole”

People don’t care about WFD or GEP but

meaningful benefits.

A plan needs to be

a tool to deliver action

So now what?

Staked our reputation on delivering the CP

‘We will deliver, we have government

support and backing’

Lose good will of the community if don't

deliver meaningful benefits

An Uncertain Future?

• Will Defra support the delivery of CPs? • Mixed messages

• no real concrete information

• Defra working things out – could take time

But what happens in the waiting period?

No further funding from Defra for WFD (?)

‘Enough money out there currently’

However….

• Lots of different pots

• Specific focus e.g. community, heritage etc..

• Not multiple benefits

• Some funds require lot of work e.g. HLF

• Many can’t be used for WFD targets

An Uncertain Future?

An Uncertain Future?

Will CPs be incorporated into RBMPs?

• CPs have no real legal status on their own

(People only do what they have to!)

• Aspirational; if incorporated could result in requirement to fund?

• Cherry pick outcomes form the plans?

A request to Defra and the EA!

• Make a decision quickly • Follow through with funding

• 3rd Sector groups can’t wait around

– Lose momentum – Lose trust of community and local stakeholders – Turn attention elsewhere to survive – Financial difficulties

Wandle Trust has funding for WFD delivery till 2015 but many other 3rd sector groups not in this situation

WFD Delivery by the Wandle Trust

• Sample of current ongoing WFD projects

– Scale, type, variety

• Sample of completed projects

Current Wandle Trust WFD Projects

1. Silt/run off reduction (Carshalton waterbody)

2. Water quality – SUDS (LBS)

3. Hydraulic modelling – identify new projects, Increase

WT capacity (modelling expertise)

4. Fish passage and habitat enhancements (Wandle,

Carshalton waterbody, Hogsmill, Beverley Brook,

Cray)

5. Self sustaining wild trout populations (South London

chalk streams)

6. Pollution monitoring (Wandle)

Wandle Projects

•Wandle - WFD fail for fish

•Two waterbodies

•Carshalton waterbody

•Main Wandle

(Croydon to Thames)

Hydrodynamic silt traps

(Water quality, silt)

Gravel introduction

(habitat,

geomorphology)

Channel narrowing

Marginal wetlands

(habitat,

Hydromorphology)

Hydraulic modelling

feasibility study -

major weir removal

and designs

(Connectivity)

Carshalton

Waterbody

Phased plan of works over last 4 years

• Fish passage

and habitat

Where are we now?

Where are we now?

Real benefits!

Hackbridge: big opportunities in an urban area

• 3 weirs

• 1.6Km of river

• Heavily populated

• Flood risk area

The weirs

Opportunities

3 weirs removed

River narrowing

Gravel introduction

Backwater

Wetland creation

Catchment Scale Opportunities

•Hogsmill River

•11Km long

•WFD fail (fish and

inverts)

•Catchment scale

restoration opportunity!

•15 obstructions along

11km

•All will be addressed

....& challenges

Ancient monument

Gauging weir

150m concrete channel , 3 weirs Concrete channel under A3

Solution: Rock ramp

c.f. Arborfield

Weir and Bridge footings

(100m apart)

Footpath-

revetments

Pollution Monitoring

• EA receive ~2 – 3 minor (Category 3) incidents on the Wandle each week

• EA cannot always attend quickly enough to catch the pollution

• Collaborative Pilot programme with EA

• Pollution Assessment Volunteers

Environment Agency Wandle Trust

(SPOC)

Contact

Volunteer

(PAV)

Volunteer assesses pollution Response

Procedure Summary

• Faster response

• Efficient and effective EA response

• Identify trends and problem sites

• Saves taxpayers money

Citizen Science

• WT Support the volunteers

• EA get accurate information

• Empowers the local community

• Increases skills of local community

• Effective volunteer response

Benefits

Conclusions • Rivers Trusts

– Ideally set up to deliver WFD

• Wandle Trust – Effective delivery built on collaborative,

community focused, science driven principles.

• WFD – Not perfect

– Many challenges but also opportunities

– Uncertainties ahead

Message for Defra and EA: Act quickly, keep the momentum going and support delivery

Thankyou!