Find out below about where our local water comes from – and the cost to the Environment
Water flows readily from our taps and, on a rainy day, it’s hard to appreciate that there is any problem in using as much as we want. But behind the scenes there are ever increasing environmental costs to this apparently free-flowing resource.

Water facts for our area.
East Anglia is one of the driest areas in the country. In fact there is less rainfall per person than in Syria and Sudan. Our region is already densely populated, and numbers are growing all the time because the government has set a target of over 500,000 new homes in the region by 2021. The amount and location of development is not restrained because of lack of water in the region. In fact Essex is already an importer of water from outside the county.

Where does our water come from?
About 50% of water in our region comes from groundwater boreholes – usually from layers of chalk deep underground. This abstraction can lower water tables and cause drying of wetland habitats and reduced river flows. Although there are now regulations to stop the most serious impacts of individual abstractions, this was not always the case and there are still some licences, granted in the past, that cannot be changed. Water is also abstracted from rivers.

The Knock-On effects of taking too much water out of bore holes and rivers.
Cumulative impacts can cause problems through ‘death by a thousand cuts’. For example, at Redgrave and Lopham Fen on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, a borehole was relocated (at great expense) to stop the important wetland and its great raft spiders, from drying out. Now there is a suspicion it is reducing flows in the River Waveney.

Taking too much water out of rivers also has a negative impact, particularly in dry weather when the flow of the river is reduced too much. So some protection schemes are now in place to pump groundwater into rivers when flows fall below a critical threshold.

A solution – or making matters worse?
An ambitious water transfer scheme helps move water from north to south to supply the thirsty county of Essex. Water is abstracted at the edge of the fens, from the Ely-Ouse River in Norfolk. It is then pumped into the headwaters of the River Stour and allowed to flow down the natural course of the river. Although this helps to get the water where it’s needed, the unnaturally high volumes of pumped water damage the river channel, causing scouring of plants and sediment from the channel. Then when the pumps are turned off, the water flow can fall dramatically, leaving fish stranded in unsuitable habitat and short of oxygen. Its difficult to get the balance right and, in order to meet growing demand, plans are currently in place to increase the transfer volume – so what will the impact be in the future?.

Problems very close to home.
At Stratford St Mary, only a few miles away from the Green Teams villages, most of the river flow (transfer and natural flow) is abstracted for treatment or to supply Abberton reservoir. This can cause the river below this point to flow backwards and draw down the water level. Recently it has been found that the mud exposed by this drawdown produces toxins that kill fish. Discussions are underway to find a way of preventing this situation.

Another effect is that at times no water flows over Judas Gap weir and this prevents passage of migratory fish such as eels. Other rivers such as the Colne and Chelmer also have most of their flow abstracted before they reach the sea.

The cost of rising demands for water.
As well as damaging the environment and wildlife, extracting water for domestic use has another huge impact – that is the carbon cost of abstracting, treating, supplying and disposing of water. It has been calculated that each litre of tap water produces just over 1g of CO2. (This does not include the energy cost of the Ely-Ouse transfer scheme which is huge.) Although this is much lower than the rates of CO2 generated by your household from transport, heating and lighting, for example, it still all adds to the carbon problem – and it also adds to your household costs – as you will see next time you get your water bill.

In fact there’s no such thing as a free lunchtime-glass-of-water (and if its bottled water it will generates hundreds of times more CO2 for the furthest-travelled brands)..

So please Remember our rivers, ponds and wetlands as well as the CO2 impact next time you turn on the tap.