Our
members recently voted to set up & run a Norfolk-wide programme of work to
understand where more water is needed in Norfolk to meet environmental needs and
where this might affect abstraction. Our
members recognise that Norfolk is home to iconic wetland and Chalk stream
habitats and that these have to be protected so that they remain for future generations. The
challenge is to reconcile this with the water needed for successful food and
farming businesses in the County. Our
new programme, the Norfolk Sustainable Abstraction programme, is an
important step in doing this.
Background
One
of BAWAGs goals is to secure access to reliable, affordable & sustainable
water supplies.
The
Norfolk Sustainable Abstraction (NSA) programme will do this by working with
the Environment Agency and others to support implementation of the Broads Plan
and the National Framework for Water Resources, as well as the transition from
licences to the Environmental Permitting Regime (EPR). This includes any updates to Abstraction
Licence Strategies in Norfolk. The NSA
programme is designed to:
- Set-up a
Norfolk-wide network of agrifood water resource Planning Groups, composed of
BAWAG members who abstract from the same catchment, sub-catchment or water body. These will support abstractors with technical
water resource planning matters & in their dealings with the Environment
Agency.
- Help each
Planning Group prepare a Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP) and a Drought
Plan. These will help abstractors manage
their abstraction-related risk, including planning for any related investment
in new, more sustainable sources of supply.
The WRMPs & Drought Plans will be based on templates developed by
the EA/NFU supported Water for Food Group (WfFG).
The
NSA work is currently programmed for 2023/25 and will be concentrated in the
Broadland catchment & Chalk catchments in north and north-west Norfolk.
Success
for the NSA programme will be the ability to secure the water we need for our
businesses while, at the same time, conserving & protecting the
water-dependent habitats and species that make Norfolk such a special place to
live. Key ideas include:
- Ensuring that all
decisions are based on the best available evidence and are technically robust
and defensible.
- Identifying &
exploring all possible options for meeting environmental and abstractor need
- Helping
abstractors to work together, and with the Environment Agency and others, to
pick the best option(s), and
- Handing over
delivery of the selected options to abstractors at the point when the related
discussions become commercially sensitive.
NSA
Work Package 1
The
NSA programme has been split into a number of separate workstreams, in large
part mirroring the Environment Agency programme for the Broads Plan and the
National Framework for Water Resources.
The
NSA work will be completed using the Environment Agency Northern East Anglian
Chalk (NEAC) numerical groundwater flow model.
This model, which simulates the effect of climate and abstraction on
water levels and flow in catchments in East Anglia, is used by the Environment
Agency to support decisions which are taken about licences.
To
help us prepare for the main programme of technical work, we will complete a small
piece of preparatory work known as Work Package 1 (WP1). There are two main elements to WP1:
- Catchments in
Norfolk will be screened to determine the level of abstraction-related
environmental risk. Outputs from this
work will be used to organize the BAWAG members into Planning Groups. These groups will be the principal means of
involving abstractors in work on the NSA program.
- In combination
with the above, a specification for the NSA model runs will be developed. This process will involve using NEAC to
explore the effect of model sensitivities on the thresholds used to define
sustainable levels of abstraction. The
aim is to ensure that future licensing decisions are based on the best possible
technical methods and that the effect of uncertainty in decision-making is
minimized.
Following
this work, a detailed NSA Project Plan will be prepared. This will contain the following:
- Need assessment,
and related statement of aims & objective
- Detailed specification
for the technical work
- Program (GANTT
Chart) with milestones & deadlines
- Budget &
future funding assessment
- Risk & Issues
log, and
- Protocols for
managing program delivery.
A
final draft version of the Project Plan will be shared with the Environment
Agency at a “Technical Methods Workshop”, with a view to agreeing the approach
that we’re going to use. Following
discussion & feedback, a final version of the Plan will be prepared. This will then used to manage delivery of the
rest of the programme.
Programme
Overview
Key
NSA milestones include:
- May 2023 to October
2023: Preliminary NEAC work & formation of Planning Groups
- July 2023 to March
2024: Complete Chalk catchment agri-WRMPs for abstractors in north
& north-west Norfolk.
- October 2023 to May
2024: Complete main modelling work for Bure & Thurne, and
- March 2023 to September
2024: Complete main modelling work for Yare & Waveney.
Contact
If
you have any questions about the NSA programme, or would like to learn more,
please contact Dr Steve Moncaster, our Membership & Technical Advisor:
smoncaster@catorandco.com
If
you are an abstractor in Norfolk interested in the programme or in BAWAG
membership, we’d be especially pleased to hear from you.