WELSH Water’s Catchment Team and Beacons Water Group are piloting new ways of managing water that will build productivity, protect nature, reduce nutrient use and ease flooding.
“We’re trying to pilot a new way of working – an approach modelled on an international example in the Catskills, USA, where they’ve been successfully controlling water quality through catchment management for the last 30 odd years,” says Nigel Elgar, Brecon Beacons Mega Catchment Project Manager.
“Engagement in the past has tended to be, we pay farmers a sum of money to deliver a certain output. At the end of that funding period we have no mindset change, we’ve got no sustainability. This is about empowering the farmer and land user, giving them the opportunity to improve the outcomes they want to see for their business or their interests but also deliver for water quality as well.”
A new short film, produced by Welsh Water and the Brecons Water Group, showcases the work of five farmers in the region.