The overall objective of the Wensum Demonstration Test Catchment project is to assess the effectiveness of a variety of land management measures aimed at reducing diffuse pollution from agricultural activities across the whole river catchment.
Farming is not the sole cause of diffuse pollution but it does contribute approximately 60 per cent of nitrate, 25 per cent of phosphorus and 70 per cent of sediments entering our waters, amongst other pollutants (Defra website www.defra.gov.uk). Defra’s England Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative programme operates in the Wensum catchment and is encouraging land managers to undertake measures funded under Defra’s agri-environmental stewardship schemes that will help to reduce diffuse pollution.
The extensive monitoring work that will be undertaken in the Wensum Demonstration Test Catchment will help provide the ‘evidence base’ to assess how well these measures are working. Members of the Wensum Alliance will evaluate the effectiveness of the various measures undertaken and develop recommendations that will help refine future agri-environmental policy to reduce pollution further.
There is increasing recognition of the need to tackle diffuse pollution on a catchment-wide basis to have a positive impact on water quality. To achieve the greatest benefit it will be important to identify and address the main problems on all farms rather than focusing on solving all problems on only some farms.
To find out more about the research click on the links below -
Other related research taking place in the Wensum
- Chris Adams (UEA) sampling the River Wensum in its upper reach. UEA are relating in-stream nitrogen chemistry with indirect N2O emissions.
The guiding principle of the DTC projects was that they should be the foundation of a collaborative 'research platform' upon which other research projects could draw and build.
The Wensum DTC has a link to another major DEFRA research programme - Agricultural Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Research Platform. This £12.6 million initiative seeks to improve the accuracy and resolution of the UK GHG reporting system by providing new experimental evidence on the factors affecting emissions and statistics relevant to changing farming practices. Linking with the Wensum DTC enables co-use of monitoring sites. The work being carried out in the Wensum DTC under this research platform is listed below.
- Project AC0116 – Measurement of nitrous oxide emissions from soils Researcher: Chris Adams (UEA, Christopher.Adams@uea.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Kevin Hiscock.
For further information [Click here]
In addition are a growing number of student projects based either at UEA, Imperial College London or Cranfield University related to the Wensum Demonstration Test Catchment Project.
PhD Projects
- Analysis and visualization of digital elevation data for catchment managementStudent: Mesfer Al-Yami (UEA, Saudi Arabian Government Studentship, M.Al-Yami@uea.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Andrew Lovett. Status: started June 2010
For further information [Click here] - Investigation of microbiological community composition of surface waters in the Wensum catchmentStudent: Ali Albaggar (UEA, Saudi Arabian Government Studentship, Ali.Albaggar@uea.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Kevin Hiscock, Alastair Grant. Status: started October 2010
For further information [Click here] - Visioning catchment futuresStudent: Sarah Taigel (UEA, ESRC Studentship, S.Taigel@uea.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Andrew Lovett. Status: started January 2011
For further information [Click here] - Investigating organo-mineral suspended sediment dynamics as controls on phosphorus export from instrumented, agricultural test catchmentsStudent: Richard Cooper (UEA, NERC CASE Studentship with BGS, Richard.J.Cooper@uea.ac.uk)
Supervisors: Kevin Hiscock, Barry Rawlins, Tobias Krueger. Status: started October 2011
For further information [Click here]
MSc/MSci projects
- Applying FARMSCOPER to DTCsStudent: Alice Hill (Kings College)
Supervisor: Claire McCamphill (Defra). Status: 3-month placement with Defra (summer 2010) - The application of an ADCP profiler in an investigation examining the relationship between nutrient flux, discharge and catchment dynamics in the River Blackwater, NorfolkStudent: James Moore (UEA)
Supervisor: Kevin Hiscock. Status: completed April 2011 - Scoping faecal indicator organism inputs to the Wensum catchmentStudent: Yanzong Zheng (UEA, Yanzong.Zheng@uea.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Kevin Hiscock. Status: completed September 2011
For further information [Click here] - Identifying sediment generation 'hot spots' with the Wensum Demonstration Test Catchment in Norfolk, UKStudent: Bonnie Mercer (Cranfield, b.a.mercer@cranfield.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Ian Holman. Status: completed September 2011
For further information [Click here] - What does the high resolution water quality monitoring tell us about pollutant sources in the Wensum Demonstration Test Catchment?Student: Elizabeth Edney (Cranfield, e.h.edney@cranfield.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Ian Holman. Status: completed September 2011
For further information [Click here] - How successful has the catchment scale river restoration of the Wensum been in improving biodiversity at Great Ryburgh, particularly for species with some association with the created habitats and species with a regional and/or national importance?Student: Maud Grandry (Cranfield, m.grandry@cranfield.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Ian Holman (with River Restoration Centre, Catchment Scale River Restoration of the Wensum, led by the Environment Agency with Natural England). Status: completed September 2011 - Has the bed raising at Bintree been successful in promoting habitat diversity?Student: Deborah Ansa-Otu (Cranfield, d.g.ansaotu@cranfield.ac.uk)
Supervisor: Ian Holman (with River Restoration Centre, Catchment Scale River Restoration of the Wensum, led by the Environment Agency with Natural England). Status: completed September 2011 - Assessment of mitigation measures for sediment transport in the Wensum catchment using a risk-based approach in line with the Water Framework DirectiveStudent: Jessica Cross-Brown (Imperial)
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis (Imperial, n.voulvoulis@imperial.ac.uk). Status: completed September 2011
For further information [Click here] - The need for integrated water management in reducing vulnerability to pesticides in the Wensum catchment under the Water framework DirectiveStudent: Nicholas Brown (Imperial)
Supervisor: Nick Voulvoulis (Imperial, n.voulvoulis@imperial.ac.uk). Status: completed September 2011 - Wensum catchment rainfallStudent: Daizy Pillala (UEA)
Supervisor: Steve Dorling (UEA). Status: completed September 2011
For further information [Click here]
BSc final-year project
- Phosphorus source apportionment during storm events in the Blackwater catchmentStudent: Benedict Orchard (UEA, B.Orchard@uea.ac.uk)
Supervisors: Kevin Hiscock, Tobias Krueger. Status: starting field work in July 2011, completed January 2012
To view Thesis [Click here]
