Lincolnshire dry weather transfer scheme explained

Dry weather is not only about brown grass or lower reservoirs. In Lincolnshire, it can also mean pumps switching on, river levels being managed day by day, and regulators stepping in to protect both water supplies and wildlife. That is why the Environment Agency has turned on the Trent Witham Ancholme River Transfer Scheme to help secure supplies for North Lincolnshire. If you have never heard of it before, you are not alone. It is one of those public systems most people only notice when conditions become difficult.

According to the Environment Agency, the scheme has been owned and operated by the agency since 1974 and supports more than 100 abstraction licences. That includes water companies, farmers, industrial users and other organisations with legal permission to take water from the Rivers Ancholme and Witham. If the word abstraction sounds technical, it simply means taking water from a river or another source for use elsewhere. What this means for you is that a dry spell is not just a problem for drinking water. It can also affect farming, industry, boating and river habitats at the same time.

The scheme works by shifting water between three of the region’s main waterways: the River Trent, the River Witham and the River Ancholme. When the Ancholme falls below the level needed for navigation and licensed abstraction, water is pumped from the Witham at Short Ferry and sent through a 17.5-kilometre pipeline to the upper Ancholme. If the Witham is also running low, it can then be topped up from the River Trent at Torksey through the Fossdyke Canal, which connects with the Witham at Lincoln. At full use, the scheme can move the equivalent of about 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water a day. That gives you a good sense of the scale involved.

There is also an emergency back-up built into the system. Toft Newton Reservoir covers 16.5 hectares and can store up to 761,000 cubic metres of water. If a pollution incident or a problem with pumping equipment disrupts the usual river transfers, that stored water can be released into the River Ancholme. This matters because dry weather planning is not only about today’s river level. It is also about preparing for the possibility that something else goes wrong at the same time. In simple terms, the reservoir gives managers extra breathing room when the wider system is under pressure.

The Environment Agency says it is closely monitoring river flows and is ready to use its regulatory powers during prolonged dry weather. Thomas Enright, an environment manager for Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, said the aim is to maintain river levels for people, wildlife, navigation and agriculture. That balancing act can include temporary limits on abstraction licences and support for water transfers between licensed users. If you are wondering what regulation looks like in practice, this is it: officials may reduce how much water some users can take so that rivers are not pushed past the point where serious environmental harm begins.

Dry weather also changes what is happening below the water surface. The agency has already carried out fish rescues on the River Slea and at a Lincoln & District Angling Association stillwater, with other sites being watched closely. It has also supported fish rescue work on Billing Brook, a tributary of the lower River Nene. Elsewhere, officers are responding to rising salinity on the Hob Hole and the Lower Steeping River. Salinity means the amount of salt in the water, and it can rise when freshwater flows drop. The agency also says duckweed often builds up on Lincolnshire rivers during prolonged dry weather, especially on the River Witham, because slower flows allow it to spread more easily.

Water companies, farmers and growers are all part of the response. The Environment Agency says it is encouraging sustainable water use, checking that water companies have workable drought plans, and supporting water transfers between abstractors. It also makes clear that decisions on hosepipe bans sit with individual water companies, not with the agency itself. Behind the scenes, the agency and Defra bring together the National Drought Group so that government, water companies and industry can respond quickly when conditions worsen. The agency is also backing the Water Efficiency Campaign, which asks people to waste less water before shortages become more severe. The wider lesson here is that drought response is shared work. Public bodies coordinate it, companies are expected to plan for it, and the rest of us can help by using water carefully and reporting harm when we see it. If you spot fish in distress, the Environment Agency asks people to call its incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.