Affinity Water, Thames Water and Arup have worked with stakeholders to devise a new way of measuring the health of chalk streams, that falls outside of legislative obligations.
The project was jointly funded by the water companies and has been supported by expertise from Cambridge University, the Environment Agency, the River Restoration Centre and Chalk Streams First. The shared metrics will offer a new means of making best value intervention decisions, transparently and inclusively.
The metrics will be piloted on the River Chess (pictured) and subsequently refined as needed. Affinity Water’s head of external communications, Kevin Barton,
said: “It may surprise people to know that, at the moment there is no clear definition of what a healthy chalk stream is and how it is measured. Different stakeholders have different responsibilities and legal obligations…Our new assessment framework will use a clear set of metrics that will measure the health of the streams and will help to identify problems and plan new interventions where needed.”
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