The role of farmland in water security: ELR features on BBC Politics South
Evenlode Landscape Recovery featured on BBC Politics South this week, highlighting the role farmland and the wider landscape can play in securing our future water supply.
Tim Field, NECFC Facilitator and ELR Director, spoke to the BBC as part of its coverage of the proposed plans for the White Horse Reservoir near Abingdon and the wider question of water security across the South East.
With the Thames Valley experiencing another period of exceptionally low rainfall, the BBC looked beyond the proposed reservoir itself to the question of where the water needed to fill it will come from.
For Tim, part of the answer lies much further upstream.
During the interview, Tim highlighted the importance of the natural reservoir beneath the Cotswolds and the role farmland can play in helping rainfall soak into the ground, replenish groundwater, and ultimately support our rivers.
As Tim told the BBC, “The landscape-scale reservoir under our feet in the Cotswolds is so important to the resilience of the water supply in the south-east.”
It’s a timely example of why managing water at a landscape scale matters. Major water infrastructure will form part of the response to future water demand, but so too will the health and resilience of the landscapes that supply our rivers
and reservoirs in the first place.
Following the Politics South programme, the BBC has published a full article exploring the issue and Tim’s contribution; click the link below to read.
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