The water issues we have in the UK are threefold: too much, too little and too dirty. The National Landscapes and their teams are at the sharp end of these water issues from every angle, as they convene, enable and deliver natural flood management schemes, boost resilience in the face of over-abstraction and drought, and work for cleaner, more alive and resilient waterways.

We warmly welcome Steve Reed’s announcement of the Government’s three-stage plans to reform the water sector and clean up our waterways, and the commitment to a radical and long-term approach. We support the plans for stronger accountability to citizens, enforcement mechanisms, and more robust monitoring, including strengthened legislation.

National Landscapes cover 13% of England and Wales, and 83% of that land area hosts the most important aquifers* that provide significant quantities of drinking water and water for business needs, as well as supporting vital rivers, lakes and wetlands. For example, the Protected Landscapes of the Big Chalk Partnership, which are collaborating to build a large-scale, dynamic nature recovery network, sit over much of the major aquifer for southern and eastern England. Unsustainable abstraction threatens some of the most iconic catchments and important habitats in the country, such as chalk streams, which need enhanced recognition and protection for being a globally important habitat. Other challenging issues include invasive, non-native species and flooding.

At the other end of the system, several National Landscapes are trying to deal with the ‘end result’ of the pollution that enters the waterways upstream. The top pollutant sources are from agriculture and rural land management, the water industry, and from towns, villages and roads (which almost certainly includes pharmaceuticals, as shown recently in the National Parks). Chichester Harbour National Landscape has found that poor water quality is top of local peoples’ priorities in 2024 – this, along with the linked priorities of biodiversity loss and high development pressure, remain challenging to tackle, given that much of the source of the pollution originates outside of the boundary of the National Landscape.

Restoring nature goes hand in hand with cleaning up our water, and working with farmers and other land managers is crucial. The Wye River provides drinking water for 2.5 million people in the catchment in Birmingham, Cardiff, Newport and Gloucester. Excessively high summer water temperatures on the main river Wye are a major contributor to the significant algal growth during the summer, but the main factor is agricultural pollution and the failure of regulation and compliance over the last decade. Wye Valley National Landscape is in the bottom 9% of the Wye River catchment, meaning collaboration needs to happen outside the boundaries of the National Landscape – which the teams are not adequately resourced to do.

One of the most impactful and efficient places to start on these plans is by creating strong and clear laws to fully implement the new Protected Landscapes duty that came into force in 2023. This duty obliges ‘relevant authorities’, including water companies, to pull together to conserve and enhance natural beauty in Protected Landscapes, which collectively cover 25% of England. This new law is intended to catalyse the partnership approach which is critical to tackle issues which span multiple sectors and the next step to introduce secondary legislation is needed to outline how this game-changing approach can be carried out most effectively.

The Government has outlined that clear, achievable targets are also important to bring tangible improvements to water. The current, legally binding, Water Framework Directive targets for water health, requiring all water bodies to achieve Good Ecological Status, are not on track to be met, and only run until 22 December 2027. The Protected Landscapes Targets and Outcomes Framework already contains several objectives that should have some tangible impact on water issues, if they are met, such as a target for nature friendly farming, and habitat creation and restoration targets – but a focus on water is also likely needed. Using their valuable experience of taking a local (bottom-up) AND national (top-down) approach to the Protected Landscape targets, National Landscapes will be keen to join the conversation around developing a longer-term, overall target for water health (see a Briefing from Wildlife and Countryside Link here).

A widespread transition to regenerative agriculture is the solution to many of the water impacts we are seeing in National Landscapes, as it would mean fewer artificial inputs reaching watercourses; more soil cover meaning less erosion and fewer soil-adhered phosphates reaching water bodies; and slower passage of water through the system, with lower flood peaks. Working via farmer clusters and catchment partnerships, National Landscapes from the Blackdown Hills to the Shropshire Hills, from Lincolnshire Wolds to the Isle of Wight are delivering significant nature-based solutions, often to provide multiple water solutions at once: flood alleviation, drought resilience, pollution reduction, biodiversity gain and carbon storage. The Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme has enabled a lot of the water-focused action in these iconic areas, and it is critical that this scheme is extended and scaled up to deliver good on the ground in Protected Landscapes, as per our three quick wins to deliver for the nation.

Overall, we welcome a change of approach, as it’s clear that things have not been working – and remain open to engaging further with Government on the critical issue of water and National Landscapes.

*44% (8825 km2) hosts principal aquifers and 39% (7863 km2) hosts secondary ‘A’ aquifers. NLA analysis, using Defra Magic Map, Aquifer Designation Map (Bedrock)