The Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) project is a joint Defra, Environment Agency (EA) and Welsh Assembly Government initiative working in three river catchments – the Wensum in Norfolk plus the Eden (Cumbria) and Avon (Hampshire).

The overall objective of the project is to provide evidence to test the hypothesis that it is possible to cost effectively reduce the impact of agricultural diffuse water pollution on ecological function while maintaining food security through the implementation of multiple on-farm measures across whole river catchments using local expertise to solve local problems. [READ MORE]

View Wensum DTC Google Earth Project

A 'Google Earth' project has been developed by GIS expert Gilla Sunnenberg from the Wensum DTC team. It allows viewers to explore the Wensum catchment from the comfort of their own computers and includes photographs from the catchment, information on monitoring sites and more! [Click here] to view the project.

What's in the news?

May 18th 2013: Pensthorpe's Wild about the Wensum The pictures above show our busy stand at this family event at Pensthorpe Wildfowl Trust. Several members of the UEA team helped on the stand and Catchment Sensitive Farming Officer Steve Haley (pictured left) also came along with a badge-making machine that proved a big hit! Steve says “I was grateful for the chance to contribute to the Wensum Alliance stand and everyone had a great day. The badges were very popular and they worked well at bringing people to the stand, where they then had an opportunity to do some nitrate testing and get a water pollution message from the DTC team including useful information on the work of CSF in the area. Partnership working in practise!”
MAY 2013: New Newsletters Read about the Environment Agency's improvement works on the Wensum in the latest River Wensum Restoration Scheme Newsletter [Click here]. You can also find out about the work of the Broadland Catchment Partnership in their newsletter [Click here].
07-12 APRIL 2013: European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria The annual week-long conference of the EGU was attended by over 11,000 scientists from 95 countries. Two members of the Wensum Alliance team attended the Hydrological Science sessions, presenting posters and mini-talks of their latest research. Richard Cooper contributed to the session titled ‘Transfer of sediments and associated substances in catchment and river systems’. Richard said of the event "The EGU conference provided an ideal opportunity for me to showcase my latest DTC based research on sediment fingerprinting techniques to an international scientific audience." To see Richard's poster [click here]. Emilie Vrain contributed to the session on ‘Stakeholders, public involvement and collaborative processes in hydrology research and water management’. Emily adds "It was wonderful to meet so many researchers who are interested in catchment management. The EGU was a great introduction to international conferences and a very valuable experience for me." To see Emily's poster [click here].
APRIL 2013: What's happening elsewhere? Catchment news from Essex The UEA Wensum team has been exchanging knowledge with Teresa Meadows who is advisor for the Chelmer and Blackwater catchment in Essex. They share many of the issues faced in the Wensum catchment as you will see if you visit their website - www.chelmerandblackwater.org.uk or take a look at their latest newsletters Spring 2013 and January 2013.