Following a Judicial Review, the Environment Agency extended its Ant Broads and Marshes restoring sustainable abstraction investigation to include other Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the Broads. Currently water abstraction licences in the Bure, Thurne, Yare, Wensum, Waveney and Tud catchments are being assessed using the Environment Agency “North East Anglian Chalk” (NEAC) regional groundwater flow model. The work is required to meet legal obligations under the Habitats Regulations and to protect the SSSIs, which are also Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and designated under the RAMSAR convention.
We are licenced by the Environment Agency to use the NEAC model, and for the Broads Plan we are currently exploring the effect of applying the flow targets and thresholds specified by the Environment Agency and Natural England on abstraction by members, water companies and others.
As part of this effort, we have been supporting members at information sessions and licence holder events, and in individual abstractor meetings with the Environment Agency, where the initial modelling results have been presented and discussed.
Our modelling shows that many abstractors in the Broadland catchment are potentially at risk from licence changes, and that the outcome for members and other non-public water supply abstractors is sensitive to decisions that are made about the potentially affected water company licences. Next steps in the project involve acquiring an updated version of NEAC, with improvements to the representation of open water systems, and using this in work with members to develop and test alternative options for reducing overall levels of abstraction. The aim will be to restore near-natural flow conditions within the SSSIs while maximising the volume of water that can continue to be abstracted. The work will rely on effective collaboration between members, using partial reductions in licenced quantities and other measures, such as smart farming and dynamic catchment management, to share the impact of the Broads Plan in a fair and equitable manner.
Figure from Environment Agency Broads Plan engagement website, which is here:
https://engageenvironmentagency.uk.engagementhq.com/the-broads-sustainable-abstraction-plan