Essex Rivers Hub

Catchment partnership vision

Essex Rivers Hub Partnership is working to ensure our rivers, wetlands and water resources are resilient to the changing climate and population growth, are richer in biodiversity, support a thriving economy and contribute to the well being of the citizens of Essex. Over the next 10 years we will work in partnership to ensure: rivers and wetlands are restored at priority sites; water resources can meet human demands without compromising the needs of wildlife and habitats in a changing climate; the challenges and impacts of climate change and population growth are being addressed through innovative adaptation and mitigation initiatives. We will extend our reach with landowners, farmers, businesses and local communities to ensure people in Essex are more conscious of the pressures on the water environment and are more actively engaged in efforts to use water more sustainably, reduce pollution, improve water quality and increase biodiversity.

Related websites

Find out more about the activities and ambitions of this catchment partnership and how you can get involved to help improve the water environment in the catchment.

• Essex Rivers Hub catchment partnership webpage
• Catchment Management Plans on CaBA website

Partnership success highlights 2016 to 2021

The Essex Rivers Hub is a proactive partnership that operates from source to sea. Coastal partners are tackling saltmarsh erosion and piloting the Essex seagrass project and working with Zoological Society of London to protect native oysters, further inland, partners are identifying nutrient sources flowing into rivers that cause issues with over-wintering macro-algae and saltmarsh degradation. The Essex Fish Migration Roadmap has been developed to reconnect migration routes from estuaries to headwaters with fish easement being delivered. Natural flood management projects have been delivered in several catchments to help attenuate flood risk, with continued development and future expansion of the beaver release project at Finchingfield to mitigate flooding in the village below. This scheme is being monitored by numerous project partners and academics to provide a comparison with more traditional flood management options. Essex River Hub is also pioneering eDNA meta-barcoding surveys to identify multiple water dependant mammalian species through water sample collection, including non-native mink, as part of a regional eradication scheme. Floating pennywort, another invasive non-native species, continues to be tackled at scale by a range of partners with twice yearly reviews of progress. Partners have engaged with farmer clusters, landowners and the AONB on landscape scale issues through water company initiatives. Member partners continue to monitor and manage Invasive Non-native Species in the region.

Partnership development plans

We aim to expand the partnership and extend our engagement with landowners, farmers, businesses and local communities to further address key challenges in the catchment. We will engage with innovative resilience projects planned for the estuaries and rivers, and promote developments in the Blackwater catchment, Spains Hall Estate and Abberton Reservoir for the betterment of the environment. We will also promote the Essex Fish Migration Roadmap and further its aims, whilst completing more projects to improve rivers in the catchment. Partners will also be expanding the water vole recovery work as part of the Waterlife Recover East mink eradication program, working with partners across the region, and INNS control will remain a key focus for partnership working.