NSA Programme

Background 

Norfolk is one of the driest counties in England, with long-term average annual rainfall between 660mm/year to 680mm/year, around 60% of that for the UK1.   

Despite lacking rainfall, the County is home to many water-dependent Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) including some, such as the Broads European Sites, the River Wensum and the Norfolk Valley Fens, which are also Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and RAMSAR sites.  These are the highest designations possible in England for the protection and conservation of habitats and species and reflect the special value of these sites in terms of landscape and wildlife.  We’re lucky to have them. 

At the same time, farming in Norfolk produces huge amounts of the food we need to feed the nation including cereals, vegetables, sugar beet and soft fruit, as well as pigs, poultry and livestock.  Data2 from the Norfolk Office of Data & Analytics shows that the Agri-Food Tech sector in Norfolk supports 42,000 jobs in over 5,000 businesses which, in total, generate nearly £1.5 billion gross value added (GVA) per year.  The sector one of the three largest in the county, after construction and tourism, encompassing everything from primary agriculture to food manufacturing and distribution.  For many of these businesses, access to water for irrigation or processing is critical. 

Why the NSA programme is needed 

The abstraction and use of water in England is controlled using licences which are issued by the Environment Agency.  These arrangements were set up in the 1960s when sustainability issues were not well-understood and, in many areas, too many licences were issued.  While measures were introduced in the 1990s to time-limit new licences so that these can be changed, if necessary, the legacy of these past policies can be seen in the many over-licenced, over-abstracted catchments in England which are now vulnerable to climate change and drought.   

 In response, the Environment Agency is planning a major new programme to restore abstraction to sustainable levels.   

In Norfolk, abstractors have already seen licence reductions at Catfield Fen and in other areas close to the Ant Broads and Marshes.  In future there will be more reductions as the Environment Agency implement their “Broads Plan” and these will be followed by reductions linked to a national programme of Catchment Permit Reviews.  Most areas in Norfolk are vulnerable to licence change at some point over the next decade: 

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Key:

Green areas – SSSIs

Hatched areas – waterbodies potentially vulnerable to licence change from the Environment Agency Broads Plan

Red & pink areas: Licence reductions (%) estimated to be needed under current conditions to achieve sustainable abstraction (from the National Framework for Water Resources 2025, Environment Agency)

What is the Norfolk Sustainable Abstraction programme for?

To respond to the Environment Agency processes for reducing abstraction, our members need access to the programmes, models and tools the Environment Agency use when making decisions about which licences to change.  While this is prohibitively expensive for individual businesses, it becomes affordable when abstractors collaborate and work together.  This is what the Norfolk Sustainable Abstraction programme is for; sharing the costs of doing the technical work needed to manage abstraction licences.

What kind of work is being done?

To date, four kinds of projects have been funded using the Norfolk Sustainable Abstraction programme:

1. Work with the Environment Agency regional groundwater flow model (the Northern East Anglian Chalk (NEAC) model) to explore the impact of abstraction on sensitive environmental receptors and test different options for meeting flow or water level targets. The Environment Agency provides the model, and we work with experts to run it and evaluate the results.  Using NEAC, we have:
   1. Supported members affected by the Ant Broads and Marshes Closure Report, including in a Planning Inquiry held to determine if members licences should be reduced,
   2. Agreed with the Environment Agency measures to improve the modelling of spray irrigation effects, resulting in improvements to the water balances that are calculated which have benefitted members, and
   3. Completed preliminary modelling to determine the possible impact of the Environment Agency Broads Plan. This work is on-going.
2. Work to develop a framework for water resource management planning in the agrifood sector. Based on the Nar and Stiffkey catchments in west and north Norfolk, this explored alternative technical approaches for promoting collaboration between abstractors.  The project was supported with a grant from the Environment Agency Chalk catchment programme.
3. Work on a “smart farm” installation designed to link management of an irrigation system to management of the hydrology and hydrogeology in a nearby wetland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The project involved installing groundwater level monitoring equipment across the farm and in the SSSI, as well as the installation of soil moisture and evapotranspiration monitors, sensors on the rain guns, a weather station and monitoring equipment in a reservoir and a pumphouse.  This work was supported by a grant from the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, and
4. Work on a Lowland Agricultural Peat Water Development Pilot (LAPWDP) water level management project. With partners the Broads Authority, Cranfield University and Norfolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, this involved mapping opportunities across the Broads for using water level management to achieve peat conservation and greenhouse gas emission targets.  Importantly, it showed the additional demand for water that this will create and the need for an integrated approach to planning if all our water related needs are to be met.  Some numerical groundwater flow modelling was completed in support of the project, and the work was funded using an Environment Agency grant.