Severn Trent Water providing up to £5000 grants to farmers to help reduce risks to drinking water

The Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme (STEPS) provides grants up to £5000 for infrastructure improvement and land management changes in Severn Trent Water (STW) target areas.

STEPS aims to protect and improve watercourses and the wider environment by supporting improvements which are above and beyond good agricultural practice.

The scheme is voluntary and funded by STW. It's being supported by dedicated STW local agricultural advisors who can provide one to one help with the application process. Please note that grants are awarded via a scoring system. Applicants demonstrating a clear water quality benefit to the issues of concern in that area and who have engaged with our local agricultural advisor are most likely to be successful.

STEPS states they are keen to work with farmers and land managers to reduce risks to drinking water.

By working in partnership with farmers STEPS can:

• Improve drinking water quality

• Reduce the need for additional water treatment

• Provide wider environmental benefits in our catchments eg. biodiversity and flood risk improvements.

As part of their £21million plan for the next 5 years (2015 – 2020), the STW catchment team are launching two new farmer support schemes:

Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme (STEPS) – farmer grants of up to £5000 per farm for infrastructure investments and land management changes to protect / improve drinking water quality.

Metaldehyde Schemes - support to help manage levels of metaldehyde in drinking water. Metaldehyde is the active ingredient found in most slug pellets and is difficult to remove from drinking water.

The next STEPS application period is open now and will close on 18 March 2016.

To find out more follow this link.