NFU backs EA report on securing future water supplies
The NFU has given its support to the Environment Agency’s 40-year water resources strategy which sets out the challenges and pressures on securing water supplies to 2050.
The agency strategy - Water for people and the environment - recommends a series of actions and measures to ensure that all parts of society have continued access to water against a backdrop of predicted climate change, more housing and a higher UK population.
The strategy recognises the reliance of agriculture on water for production, a reliance that can only increase if hotter drier summers become more frequent, and highlights the importance of working with, and understanding, the needs of farm businesses. It identifies the NFU as central to promoting responsible use.
Among the strategy’s aims are:
• Supporting the development of small scale reservoirs for agriculture and calls for their continued funding;
• Setting out that the agency will continue to promote the setting up of abstractor groups for agriculture to promote water efficiency;
• Supporting catchment management type approaches where changes to land management practices can protect and improve water quality and water resources;
• Promoting ’slow water’ systems to reduce the problems of flooding following heavy rain, especially from new development;
• Continued investment in vital new science-based research and innovation, including developing new technologies for water use and understanding better how changes in society and catchment affect water resources.
NFU director of policy Martin Haworth said: "This report highlights the critical role water plays in agriculture and horticulture and how this impacts on the production of the nation’s food, both now and in the future.
"Water is essential for almost everything that farmers and growers do, from irrigating crops to watering livestock, and water use for irrigation contributes significantly to the economy in many parts of the country. We must demonstrate responsible use of the small proportion of the nation’s water supply used by farmers but we also expect the agency to use its licensing powers to allow this to take place, through such things as support for winter water storage and abstractor group initiatives.
"The droughts and increased flooding we have experienced in recent years clearly demonstrate that water resources, and how we manage them, are becoming increasingly important for everyone.
"With climate change still top of the agenda we have to ensure we can adapt to the challenges that it will bring and hope that many of the measures outlined in this strategy will help to increase the resilience of the agriculture industry."
The NFU called for more talks on other aspects of the strategy, such as land use change to absorb rainfall, especially in the uplands, and plans to convert all abstraction licenses to time-limited status. "The Environment Agency needs to match time-limited licences to the cost of investing in new resources", Mr Haworth said.
