Every Drop Counts...
The quantity of water in the Wye can pose challenges to its inhabitants in high flows and low flows. As well as being a valuable supply of drinking water, water in the Wye supports local food production, tourism, recreation and wildlife.
“The Wye provides drinking water for 2.5 million people! There are drinking water abstractions throughout the Wye; Welsh Water supply householders inside the catchment as well as Birmingham, Cardiff and Newport whilst Severn Trent Water also supply householders in Gloucestershire.”
Abstraction
The demand for water from the Wye is met, in part by the construction of reservoirs in the upper part of the catchments. Water is either piped from these reservoirs by gravity to Birmingham or extra flows are released down the river to be abstracted. Various abstraction points take water for local use as well as a Severn Trent abstraction at Lydbrook to supply Gloucester. Agricultural use includes irrigation, winter storage reservoirs and other licenced abstractions including water for livestock.
The Usk & Wye Abstraction Group
The UWAG consortium has ensured optimum solutions that ensured the best for the river and waterways with the least impact on supplies for the water companies. Find out more about what has been achieved by this group.
Natural Flood Management
Much has been achieved elsewhere in the UK by attenuating flows in the upper reaches of a catchment, either through improved soil management or construction of leaky dams and swales. This is a new approach in the Wye and we have several projects now running locally:
The Herefordshire Natural Flood Management Project
Herefordshire Council has secured Flood and Coastal Risk Management funding to deliver Natural Flood Management (NFM) in seven priority sub-catchment areas across the county until 31 March 2027. The project builds on a successful pilot, which ran from 2018 to 2021, and focuses on using natural processes and land management measures to both slow the flow and store water within upland areas, reducing the risk of flooding to downstream communities.
Catchment advisors from the Wye and Usk Foundation and Severn Rivers Trust will work with individual landowners, providing free tailored advice about the NFM opportunities available on their land. A construction grant scheme is available for landowners and farmers within the seven priority sub-catchments, to support changes to land and water management practices that reduce flood risk.
As well as reducing flood risk, the project aims to improve water quality, enhance biodiversity, and increase resilience to climate change.
To find out more about this project and how to apply, visit the Herefordshire Council website.
Lower Wye Valley
The Wye Valley AONB are working to mitigate flood risk from 4 tributaries, including the Angiddy and Cat Brook which drain in to the Wye Valley near Tintern. The AONB are working with local partners, landowners and communities to deliver the project which is funded by Natural Resources Wales until 2019.
Yazor Brook
Herefordshire Wildlife Trust have received £100,000 from the Welsh Water Environment Fund to help support biodiversity and Natural Flood Management in the Yazor brook catchment. Natural flood management techniques benefit a whole range of people and wildlife. They help to reduce flood risk for communities downstream of their location, but they can also make the land more resilient to drought. For example, more diverse grasslands can help more water to infiltrate the soil during wet periods, restoring groundwater supplies which are vital in drought periods. The deeper roots of a lot of these plants also enable them to withstand droughts much better meaning that a healthy grassland is maintained for a longer time. They also create new and varied habitats for wildlife; creating ponds to hold flood water creates a new breeding area for amphibians and many invertebrates and feeding habitat for birds.
This work is delivered through the Wye Adapt to Climate Change? project which is a much wider reaching project that includes Radnorshire Wildlife Trust and the Wye Valley National Landscape. The Yazor catchment is just one tributary of focus across the whole project reach.
Wye, Ithon & Severn Ecosystem (WISE) Project
The Wye & Usk Foundation and Severn Rivers Trust project will work across their two large catchments in 6 tributaries to reduce runoff and hold more water in farmland. The project also seeks to identify the value of ecosystem services this provides downstream inhabitants, improve wildlife habitat and carry out research about infiltration rates. The project is funded by Welsh Government’s Sustainable Management Scheme.
How Natural Flood Management Works
Flooding
Many households and businesses are threatened by surface waTer and river flooding in the Wye. The Environment Agency are responsible for management of main rivers, local authorities are responsible for surface water and localised flooding from streams. The Internal Drainage Board are also responsible for watercourse maintenance in certain tributaries.