SRA Annual Report 2022-23: Water storage trials
In December 2022, members of the Moor Association on Curry Moor took part in an Environmental Land Management (ELM) trial designed to help the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) assess the practicalities of paying farmers and landowners for storing water on their land. Storing water in suitable places at suitable times can help to relieve flood pressures elsewhere. This exercise was organised with the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group SouthWest (FWAG SW), in consultation with the Environment Agency and the Parrett IDB. It was part-funded by the SRA.
All 33 Association members agreed that between them they would hold 418,000 cubic metres of water on their land for six days instead of expecting it to be quickly pumped away. On Curry Moor’s lowest fields this volume of water equates to about 31 centimetres of water, that is just over 12 inches. Plans were devised to ensure that flood risks were not increased.
Moor Association members on Aller Moor are also being given grants for their engagement with the process of making arrangements for a trial, although the exact conditions that had been agreed for a water storage exercise were not met. The situation here was complicated by the onset of January’s Major Incident and the very large volumes of water that entered the Sowy-KSD system.
A Moor Association representative from Curry Moor told the SRA Board in March: “We very much hope that it is the start to a change of thinking in the way that water is used particularly to assist the flood management for the wider community and the ways which farmers are compensated for the services they provide.”
Lessons learned from the trial are due to be debated by the SRA Board, SRA partners and Defra, as while there is general agreement that water storage is crucial, there is not currently a consensus about which areas should be selected for water storage payments.