Minister puts chalk streams in the spotlight as water firms pledge protection

Water minister Rebecca Pow said on Friday that we need to “get a grip” of issues causing problems for England’s chalk streams – including low flows, over abstraction, poor water quality and habitat loss – “and start to change things now”.

Pow (pictured) was speaking at the 2020 Chalk Stream Summit organised by the Chalk Rivers Action Group (CRAG). This was convened one year on from a 2019 meeting, to check on progress after stakeholders pledged action.

Senior leaders from Thames Water, Anglian Water, Affinity Water, Southern Water and regional group Water Resources South East vowed on Friday to invest millions of pounds to protect the country’s chalk streams by reducing the amount of water they abstract from them and by cutting pollution.

Each water company laid out its plans to stop and reverse the decline so the flows, health and ecological status of chalk rivers recover and are protected in the future. This included through: stopping sewage discharges which are currently permitted during and following heavy rain; reducing or stopping the abstraction of water; and regional planning to cut demand and improve storage and transfers.

Also at the Summit, CRAG chair Doug Kennedy handed the leadership baton on to Charles Rangeley-Wilson, who will chair a new National Chalk Streams Working Group.