Sustainable catchment management
We own 57,260ha of water catchment land located in some of Britain’s most stunning countryside, lying within such areas as the Lake District National Park, Peak District National Park and the Bowland Fells. The sustainable approach we have to managing these landholdings is key to running the regulated part of our business that covers water, wastewater and electricity distribution services. Four regional catchment teams oversee the activity taking place on our estates - the Northern, Bowland, Central and Southern teams. We also work with other landowners on the catchment land that we do not own to ensure the best possible raw water quality is available at the water treatment works.
In 2008 our Sustainable Catchment Management Plan (SCaMP) achieved its key targets with over 96% of the land designated as sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) reaching favourable or recovering conditions. This is as a result of implementing farm plans which reduce grazing pressure and work on the peat bogs, all of which aim to improve habitats and raw water quality. Work has also been carried out to investigate the impact of land management changes on carbon.
As part of our next five yearly investment programme, 2010-2015, we have submitted our final plans to OFWAT, so that we can fund a programme to extend the SCaMP approach to our Northern and Central estate areas. These plans continue to receive enthusiastic support from a range of government and non-government bodies and we remain cautiously optimistic that we will be allowed to fund this programme.
More information about SCaMP can be found on our website