Protection of watercourses

We do a range of things to protect watercourses including:

  • Sediment control. We try to stop water that is carrying sediment from getting into water courses:
    • We use gullies, earth banks and small pits to capture water draining from farm yards and dirt tracks. Capturing the water lets sediment settle out and allows the water to evaporate or soak away
    • Some water courses are fenced from cattle to stop them pushing sediment into streams and ponds
Diverting rainwater

A low bund across a yard diverting rainwater into a soakaway

Water running through a farmyard towards wetlands (visible in the background). This photo was also taken during a relatively extreme rain event
Water running off a public road and through a farmyard towards wetlands and a chalk stream (visible in the background – see below)
Rainwater with sediment held on grassland before reaching a watercourse. This allows the water to slowly soak into the ground and prevents sediment reaching the chalk stream
Rainwater flowing out of the farmyard (shown above) is held up on grassland before it can reach the chalk stream. The water can then slowly soak into the ground dropping its load of sediment there rather than carrying it into the watercourse
Water running down farm track. Unless this water is held up somewhere, it will carry sediment and nutrients into a watercourse. This photo was taken as we were having over 25mm of rain in 30 minutes
The water running down this track would carry sediment and nutrients into a chalk stream unless it is held up (see below)
Earth bank holding up water
Water from the track shown above being held up by an earth bank. The sediment will be dropped here rather than being carried into a watercourse. These four pictures were taken on 27th June 2014 when we had 25mm rain in 30 minutes.