Norfolk river clean-up begins

The Wensum Alliance will see researchers, landowners and managers, farming and environmental organisations and Government agencies working together to improve the ecosystem health of the river, which is recognised as one of the most important chalk river habitats in England.

Despite being designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and a Special Area of Conservation, 99.4 per cent of the river’s habitat is now considered to be ‘unfavourable and declining’.

The scientists say the river’s poor condition is due mainly to phosphate pollution and sediment deposits, caused by run-off from farmed land and other sources such as roads and local sewage treatment works.

Funded by Defra, the Environment Agency and the Welsh Assembly Government, the project aims to work in collaboration with landowners to set up a series of state-of-the-art monitoring stations that will measure the effects of different on-farm mitigation measures to reduce pollution, while maintaining viable and sustainable food production.

Project leaders Dr Kevin Hiscock and Prof Andrew Lovett, of the university’s School of Environmental Sciences, hope to show it is possible to cost-effectively reduce the impact of agricultural pollution through a series of simple on-farm mitigation measures.

These can include:

• Creating grass buffer strips at the edge of fields and beetle banks in the middle of fields to stop sediment and nutrients running into rivers.
• Maintaining good management of tracks and gates near to rivers.
• Erecting riverbank fencing to stop manure from livestock entering a river.
• Using precision technology techniques to minimise fertiliser and pesticide applications.
• Planting hedgerows between fields and rivers.

Many of these measures can be funded through agri-environment schemes such as the Entry Level Stewardship and Higher Level Stewardship schemes managed by Natural England.

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