Life of a Chalkstream: Labour Party wades into water debate

Greetings!

I think we have all suspected for a while that water policy would become a live political issue as we approach the next general election. To my mind it is unlikely to be in the top tier of issues but I can well imagine Jeremy Paxman girding up his ire in the Prime Ministerial debates with a line such as, “We know most people think all politicians are full of s**t. Tell me Sunak/Starmer/Davey [delete as appropriate] why have you been delivering it in such epic quantities into our rivers and coastline?”

I have no idea what Sunak or Davey will say but we are getting some idea of what Starmer will say after we heard last week the Labour party is drawing up plans to create a new water regulator.

Under the proposals, as reported in the Financial Times, a Labour government would merge most of the Environment Agency (EA), the pollution watchdog, with the financial regulator Ofwat and the Drinking Water Inspectorate to create a new oversight body, according to people familiar with the plans. The party would also create a separate flooding agency with the remnants of the EA to protect communities in England and Wales in the case of extreme weather events.

Going at all that in reverse order, separating out the flood element makes perfect sense to me. In fact, this represents the majority of the EA spend and the PR nightmare they most dread. It also dictates some very odd funding decisions: speak it quietly but most of the grant funding for chalkstream restoration of the past 15 years has come from the flood defence budget. There is some logic behind this, by connecting the river back to the water meadow landscape, but it does require a bit of lateral interpretation of the intent if we are being truthful.

As to the rest the meat is in the merging of the EA’s pollution monitoring functions (sic) and the financial regulation provided by Ofwat; we can largely ignore the Drinking Water Inspectorate as it is worthy but tiny.

At first blush the creation of a regulatory behemoth straddling the water industry looks like a no brainer but I’m not so sure and here is why. The problem with the water industry is capacity. Capacity to provide water without prejudicing the natural flows of our river. Capacity to process sewage in such a way that the treated waste flows back into our rivers and seas with minimal ill effects. Neither of these objectives are terribly hard. The Romans aced water supply two millennia ago. The Orcadians had sewers for their Orkney Isle homes a millennia prior to that. The difficulty is people. Too many people.

The last time there was a significant push to increase the capacity for both the water and sewerage system was either side of WW2, the planning based on a population of something around 50 million. Today we are pushing on to 70 million. Even on its own that increase of 40% in the population was to require a massive undertaking to build more plant and reservoirs, the issue made problematic by personal water use more than doubling in that same time frame along with home waste now containing more damaging chemicals than ever before. At one time it was industry that killed our rivers; today it is homes (along with farming) that have taken on that particular mantle.

Any why? Because nobody has spent the money to build the required infrastructure. The water industry, both in its nationalised and privatised states has been deprived of the funds by politicians who have demanded cheap water bills at the expense of infrastructure spending. As I have written before the cost of the average annual household water bill is less than the TV licence. How utterly bonkers is that?

So, the question must be asked, would a super water regulator ever square the circle by allowing a massive increase in water and sewerage bills (believe me it will be massive) to fund the huge infrastructure spending required to a) play catch up on population numbers b) future proof for growth and c) upgrade 19^th century waste processing technology for 21^st century waste output?

My sense is the answer to this is no; I cannot see that combining the regulatory functions will resolve the historical conflict between need to spend and the need to keep consumer bills low unless that regulator has the authority to let bills rip which seems to be unlikely. And assuming that to be the case much better to retain the separation of regulation but remake the EA into a Pure Water Authority with a massive budget and draconian powers.

Fancy a home with a chalkstream?

I thought last year was a busy year for blue riband fishing properties being sold with Barton Court on the River Kennet and Wherwell Priory on the River Test changing hands. However, this year, if the rumour mill is to be trusted, may well top that.

At a relatively modest £2.75m Riverside House, Cottage and Lodge, with fishing rights on the River Dever and 5.5 acres is up for sale in the village of Bransbury in Hampshire with agents Hamptons. There may also soon be another fishing property close by on the market with double that price tag and considerably more fishing. Again, not on the market yet, but not far away but on the River Test upstream of The Mayfly Inn at Chibolton will be another good section of river with cottages.

Riverside Cottage, Bransbury, Hampshire

However, the Daddy of them all, with gossip bouncing around all over the place is of a huge estate and farming enterprise running to many thousands of acres and 6 miles of the River Test coming up for sale in June with a price tag in excess of £120m.

Watch this space or sign up for my property alert.

Mayfly and rain all at once

In complete contrast to this time last year when the river flow data was flashing a metaphorical red after a wickedly dry winter we are now awash with water. That said there is something of an Oxford divide of a non-educational nature. To the south most rivers are in the blue sector, which is to say Above Normal or Notably high whilst those north of Oxford are on a steady green at Normal.

The rivers flows are, not altogether surprisingly, pretty well a mirror image of the April rain with the east, through wet, still playing catch up and the south a third or more up on the average for April. Though plenty of rain is like money in the bank for the chalkstreams in the medium to long term, in the short term it has not been without its problems for late April and early May anglers. Sodden fields means that any heavy rain runs off as dirty water straight into the rivers, raising levels and often severely affecting some rivers, especially in Wiltshire, Dorset and Berkshire to the extent that they became close to unfishable or worse. In total we have had nearly three quarters of our monthly May allocation in the first nine days of the month.

As I write, with the rain gradually dropping out of the forecast, and with things returning to normal with the first serious Mayfly action (in the rain!) on Tuesday after some terrific Hawthorn the previous week.

Photo of the Week

This is not a photo I would have ever wanted to bring you ….. a beaver spotted on the River Stour in Dorset last week.

I see in Scotland the authorities are already issuing licenses for beaver culls, with over 100 shot last year. Later this year I will have to send our river keepers on a compulsory Beaver Management Course, sanctioned by Natural England, so they know what to do when a beaver builds a dam.

We will, of course, have to pay to go on this course which is being run by one of the groups promoting the introduction of the beavers. You could not make it up.