The catchments of the Waver and Wampool rivers are in the northwest of Cumbria, on the Solway Estuary. The rivers suffer from diffuse and point source pollution from agriculture (dairy, beef, sheep, some arable), with highly modified, over-straightened and deepened water bodies to aid agricultural drainage.
What action are we taking?
The collective action project objectives include:
- Farm advice - Providing advice to farm businesses and facilitating applications to the current grants and schemes available.
- Farmer training - Encouraging peer to peer learning and knowledge sharing through farm cluster groups and workshops.
- Farm delivery - Delivering interventions on the farm to address identified issues and supporting farms to make the most of grants and schemes available.
- Advisor training - Facilitating the creation of round tables for both advisors and supermarket/ buyers to encourage discussion and collective action.
- Advocacy and lobbying – Working with government organisations and encouraging supermarkets and buyers to think about incentives for environmental activities.
- Monitoring and research – Establish baseline metrics for the catchment and conduct monitoring to determine whether project aims are being achieved.