Wetlands and water: why and how to ensure healthy rivers
- Greening Tetbury
- Feb 26
- 5 min read
By Anne Cox
March 14th is International Day of Action for Rivers. The need for healthy waterways and water management has never been more in our minds. Heavy rainfall is becoming the norm. Towns and farms along our major rivers are regularly threatened with floods. Travel is difficult because of flooded roads. Our rivers and seas are contaminated and wildlife habitats threatened by pollution.
Tetbury's Watercourses
Two brooks skirt the town of Tetbury. One, known locally as the Ingleburn or Splash, breaks ground at the Worwell spring. In the valley below, it meets a stream from Larkhill. This confluence makes its way through the Rail Lands and is the start of the Tetbury Avon. It’s an intermittent stream, dry in summer – full flow in winter. A reliable summer flow hasn’t been seen in our lifetimes. Before it can get to the stream, water is extracted for household use and rising population and heavy water use means we may never see a steady stream through the valley in summer.
The other brook flows from Chavenage, and is forded at Cutwell before joining the Splash near Tanners Lane. Now a steady flow the river makes its way through Estcourt Park and Brokenborough. It joins the Sherston Avon at Malmesbury, circles the town and makes its way through Wiltshire, finally pouring into the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth.
Most of Tetbury lies high above the brooks and flood risk to properties is low but it does happen. 2007 saw several properties flooded and the measuring station at Brokenborough in mid-February, showed levels of 1.25m and rising – 1.30m is the level above which flooding is possible. Our neighbours in Malmesbury were already under a flood warning. Their town council has set up a river management group to work out how to manage flood but also look at whether, in the longer term, the risk can be reduced with natural flood management measures upstream. Greening Tetbury will be working with them and the Bristol and Avon Rivers Trust to look at possible natural flood management measures on the Tetbury Avon stretch of the river.
The Cutwell Ford, Tetbury and the Ingleburn as it passes through Worwell Farm and Preston Park
Natural Flood Management
Natural Flood Management measures can slow the flow of water through catchments. They include creating and restoring ponds and wetlands; enhancing soils so that they can hold more water; planting trees to slow overland flows and constructing woody features- like leaky dams, channels and floodplains- to hold back water. Wildlife can also play a part. There have been sightings of otters and beavers in the Avon. Beaver dams reduce peak flow levels during storms by up to 60% and supporting their habitats could play a significant part in managing floods.
A healthy biodiversity can help with flood management. Wildlife will not thrive in polluted water. We need clean rivers. Unfortunately, we know the record on this is poor. Recent water sampling of the Tetbury Avon has shown high nitrate levels, which means oxygen can’t be dissolved into the water. In February, about a thousand fish were found dead in the Kennet and Avon Canal in Devizes, with more coming to the surface gasping for air. High nitrate levels can be caused by agricultural runoff (fertilisers and animal waste), sewage overflows or septic tank systems, and Tetbury is prone to all.
Wessex Water deals with our water waste at the sewage treatment works at the end of Tanners Lane. It’s a mixture of sewage, grey water from our sinks, baths and showers and runoff from housing developments and polluted road surfaces. We know there have been hundreds of storm overflow discharges annually into the Avon at Tetbury in recent years. Wessex Water says it’s “looking to repurpose existing reed beds or create new ones at the Tetbury site to treat additional flows, particularly those influenced by groundwater.” Reed beds slow the flow and act as natural filtration systems, allowing bacteria to break down contaminants. Let’s hope they do more than look.
Water and Food Security
In the UK, farmers are faced with unprecedented extremes of climate. This year, after the long spells of dry weather in 2025, the winter has brought serious challenges: animal feed is scarce because summer hay had to be used to supplement grazing in the drought; prolonged flooding is leaving crops underwater and livestock at risk of disease. Overwintered crops will yield little or nothing in the summer. Some farmers are having to cull their herds because they have nothing to feed them.
Ensuring a secure food supply in climate extremes is a real challenge. The UK already relies on imports, with some categories like fruits and vegetables 80-95% of their supply. We can’t completely rely on imports for our future food supplies. Climate Change is also threatening food producers abroad. Spain supplies much of our fresh fruit and veg, but it has also been suffering this winter. Disastrous floods have transformed fertile fields into lakes, sweeping away entire harvests. Over 40% of its citrus crops have been damaged in the flooding.
Farmers at home and abroad are actively looking for ways to adapt to the new norm of summer droughts and prolonged winter storms. In Gloucestershire, farmers have realised they will need to work alongside nature rather than trying to fight it. To improve soil structure and reduce flood risks, they're turning to solutions like regenerative farming: growing legumes and deep-rooting herbs, partnering with wildlife charities to create biodiverse corridors of water-absorbing tree cover and hedging and restoring flood plains. Locally, South Cotswold Fosse Farm Cluster, a group of around 50 farmers, are doing just this, exploring ways to make their farms more resilient.
The Debate: Can We Support Nature and Ensure a Food Supply?
Regenerative farming is seen by many as a critical tool for securing the UK's long-term food supply, but it faces significant short-term hurdles and its ability to maintain current total production levels is a subject of intense debate.
It’s argued that regenerative farming will make us more resilient to Climate Change, reduce our dependence on expensive imported synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, whose prices are subject to geopolitical tensions, and improve soil health.
However, some models suggest a widespread shift to regenerative systems could lead to a 27% drop in cereal yields compared to conventional methods. Farmers would face a "valley of death" during the 3–6-year transition period, where yields may drop before ecosystems fully recover.
Proponents argue that improved profit margins (from lower input costs) and long-term soil stability may eventually offset this initial decline. Without sustained government subsidies or private investment, however, many family farms cannot afford this shift.
The challenge of adapting to climate change is great, but some solutions have already been identified; we just need the support, resources and political will to implement them.
If you're interested in learning more about regenerative farming, Sapperton Wilder is hosting two farm walks in March – details for the second date, where spaces are still available, are below.
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