Wessex Water marked World Environment Day (5 June) with new partnership funding for aquatic environmental groups.
Their Partners Programme has provided five-year funding to conservation groups throughout the south west for over 20 years.
The initiative has boosted restoration efforts on the Biss and Wylye rivers in Wiltshire, helped enhance rivers and streams in Dorset and supported ditch restoration on the North Somerset Levels over the last five years.
Four new enterprises take centre stage until 2030 with £500,000 of overall support from the environment team at Wessex Water.
They include the Upper Tone 360 project, which will focus on reconnecting the River Tone and its tributaries in Somerset with its catchment and surrounding communities.
Joanna Uglow, of Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group South West (FWAG), said: “Upper Tone 360 brings together farmers, landowners, communities and key environmental partners to restore and protect the health of the River Tone and its tributaries upstream of French Weir in Taunton.”
FWAG is also involved in delivering the Dorset Wild Rivers scheme, led by Dorset Wildlife Trust, with Dorset National Landscape and National Trust Purbeck Estate, by using catchment nature-based solutions to increase biodiversity in protected and priority habitats and species, such as chalk streams.
The Partners Programme is also collaborating with Glorious Cotswold Grasslands to restore and create a further 40 hectares of species-rich grassland in the southern Cotswolds within the Wessex Water region.
Meanwhile, Wessex Rivers Trust’s Our Healthy Headwaters scheme is leading the drive to revitalise the Hampshire Avon by working with communities in and around the rivers Wylye, Till, Nadder, Ebble and Bourne.
The Trust will focus on four areas: Septic Smart – raising awareness on how to use and maintain septic tanks in ways that minimise pollution to rivers and groundwater; Save Every Drop – changing habits around water at home, school and work; Pet Meds – highlighting the impact of pet medications on aquatic life and ‘What’s Going Down Your Plughole?’ which will focus on the risks to river health from everyday chemicals used in and around the home.
Senior Regulatory Scientist at Wessex Water, Dave Jones, added: “The Partners Programme projects from 2020 were able to deliver great outcomes for nature recovery by matching funding from Wessex Water with additional backing from other sources.“We know from our partners that secure longer-term funding like that offered by Wessex Water allows them the space to create and seek funding for the most suitable delivery projects or pathways.’’
