Bristol Water has appointed a new National Environmental Programme Delivery Manager to work on its on catchment management initiatives.

The appointment will help Bristol Water in its work to meet statutory and regulatory environmental requirements placed on water companies to maintain their environmental assets and land holdings.

Matt Pitts will be tasked with improving raw water quality stored in the water company’s reservoirs, including Chew Valley and Blagdon Lakes,  through catchment management programmes.

His role will involve working with farmers to reduce inputs of substances including nutrients (from fertilisers and manure), pesticides and soils that can eventually find their way into the reservoirs. Bristol Water said this will reduce treatment costs , with some of  the saving used to support farmers to make changes, particularly those which help not only water quality but also biodiversity, flood risk and even carbon sequestration (long-term storage of CO2).

The projects are collaborative in nature, drawing on the expertise of farmers and other bodies like the Wildlife Trusts, FWAG, Natural England and AONB. Bristol Water will be working alongside similar initiatives like Defra’s Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) Initiative run by Natural England and the Environment Agency. The company will also be working with Wessex Water for some of the projects as the neighbouring water firm’s sewerage assets can also affect water quality.

Any works undertaken by Bristol Water which could affect Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSIs) need approval by Natural England. However, most of the catchment work the firm will be supporting lies outside the SSSI boundaries.