Case Study
Anglian Water
Business background
About the business: One of 12 water companies in the UK, covering an area of 27,500 km2 from the Humber to the Thames and west of Milton Keynes.
Working with 10,500 farms: Started in 2015 to help reduce incidences of metaldehyde exceedance in drinking water. Remit has evolved to include nitrates, phosphates, herbicides. We appreciate that a co-ordinated approach is needed to ensure raw water quality is improved. Through various partnerships, we aim to work closely with farmers and local businesses to ensure we comply with European Directives and maintain good drinking water quality.
Priorities and opportunities
Maintaining good drinking water quality status is a high priority for our business, but we also recognise the mutually beneficial aspect of working alongside farmers to improve soil health on-farm. Anything we can do to help farmers keep fertiliser and chemical inputs in the field will not only result in improved water quality but will also improve farm productivity and nitrogen use efficiency.
As part of the new partnership agreement with Trinity AgTech, farmers coming on board with Sandy get a 10% discount, funded by Anglian Water.
We encourage farmers in our catchment to monitor and where necessary, make informed decisions to improve their soil health. In the current climate, farmers are coming up against challenging times and we recognise that supporting them to reap the benefits of their inputs is crucial to ensuring their businesses stand the test of time.
Lessons learned and outlook
When choosing a natural capital navigator to partner with, we liked that Trinity’s Sandy doesn’t just look at carbon. It rigorously looks at all of the outcomes of changing practices, and quantifies those changes in terms of carbon, biodiversity and water quality so farmers can profit from their business decisions.
The overarching aim is to help farmers improve soil health. That will increase a soil’s water holding capacity, improving its ability to retain nutrients, which has benefits not just for us but for farmers as well.