Cool ideas to tackle heat: why land could make more of a splash

As temperatures soar into the thirties, Britain should be tapping into a scheme to store extra water on private land. But if the government doesn't amend the 1975 Reservoirs Act, the country will lose out from fewer on-farm reservoirs to provide emergency water for farms, a place for anglers to enjoy their summer sport and a welcome oasis for wildlife. Chairman of the CLA Climate Change Working Group, Henry Aubrey Fletcher, says: 'As the law stands, the responsibilities set out by the 1975 Reservoirs Act put too high a price on installing on-farm reservoirs. Most farmers would find it difficult to meet regulatory requirements, which are disproportionate to the risk in most rural situations. Amending the 1975 Reservoirs Act would encourage more land managers to build reservoirs on their land.'

The Reservoir Act comes with a host of specifications and requires regular - and costly - inspections. The Act aims to protect the public from the risk of water breaches, but most on-farm reservoirs would be built on private land away from the general population, thus minimising the risk to public safety if a reservoir were to breach. In all, regulations can add as much as a quarter to the cost of building a reservoir.

Land manager Philip Glassford, who recently installed two 30M gallon reservoirs to the tune of £200,000 each, says: 'The cost is almost prohibitive. When we were building ten years ago, it was just about manageable, but in today's economic climate it's the last straw to break the camel's back. The Act dictates a tremendous amount of legal restrictions. The specifications are so stringent it adds something like 25 per cent to the overall cost.'

CLA Head of Environment Tanya Olmeda-Hodge says: 'The government needs to promote on-farm reservoirs through the Rural Enterprise Scheme. Although land managers are eligible for grants, they are not high up on the priority list. Land managers need more flexible legislation and less bureaucracy. They also need some guarantee of a return on their investment, such as through extended abstraction licences that ensure they keep their reservoirs filled over the payback period, which is typically 25 years.'

On-farm reservoirs are filled up over the winter periods, providing land users with secure water supplies during the dry summer periods and taking the pressure off public water supplies. 'If we are going to get more winter storms, why not capture some of the rainfall on farm and then release it when needed?? says Tanya Olmeda-Hodge.

Reservoirs also offer habitats for birds and local wildlife and if stocked with fish, a place for anglers to enjoy their sport in the summer sun. 'It seems absurd not to encourage a water storage system that makes farmers more self-sufficient whilst offering wildlife and local anglers a place to cool off from the sun,' says Tanya Olmeda-Hodge.

On-farm reservoirs are one of a number of recommendations in the Country Land and Business Association's report, 'Climate Change and the Rural Economy', which the CLA recently presented to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Rural Climate Change Panel.

For further information contact:

Tanya Olmeda-Hodge, Head of Environment, on tel: 020 7460 7923

Jenny Gimpel, National Press Officer, on tel: 020 7460 7936, Mobile: 07855 788 985 e-mail: jennyg@cla.org.uk.