Collaboration to Manage UK Water Supplies – Rainwater Tanks an Option

Water is a hot topic in farming at the best of times. But add one of history’s wettest winters, one of the driest summers in recent years, and also the threat of impending water rate increases, and it’s no surprise that managing this precious resource in farming is on the tip of most farming journalist’s tongues. This is certainly the case for Caroline Stocks in Farmers Weekly. Caroline relays a report from the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership which emphasises how greater collaboration between farmers, businesses, water companies and government is needed if water supplies are to be properly managed. In addition, the report, Sink or Swim, details how joint investment in reservoirs is a vital way to provide businesses with the opportunity to secure the water they need. It arrived at four models for financing reservoirs after working with nine companies across six sectors, including farming. The models are’ 1: Water companies provide one hundred per cent of the finance. 2: Investment is split between the water companies and farmers. 3: Investment is split between retailers who fund the reservoir for farmers and other private end-users. 4: A water service company acts as a middle-man for investors. The report states that water companies alone should not be left to manage the risks from managing water-affected industry sectors and that a collaborative approach would allow farming businesses to secure water supplies during droughts and reduce associated risks. A way that farmers are taking control of their own water supplies is through rainwater harvesting techniques – in essence, collecting rainwater from roofs and storing in dedicated rainwater tanks, water storage tanks and plastic water tanks for when it’s needed. The Enduramaxx range of rainwater tanks, for example, is available in sizes up to 30,000 litres. Manufactured in a single, rotationally-molded piece of uv-stabilised polyethylene, rainwater is stored at optimal conditions for when it really needed, perhaps in warmer, drier times of the year.

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