Medway

Catchment partnership vision

To encourage and maintain healthy rivers that are able to support characteristic environments, rich in habitat and biodiversity - with people at the heart of the catchment. This will ensure a clean and plentiful water supply and encourage resilience to flood and drought through supporting the natural processes that deliver sustainability.

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.

Catchment challenges

Current challenges identified by partnership

  • Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

    This large, rural catchment needs a more joined-up approach to enable landowners to manage land in the best possible ways to preserve water quality

  • Pollution from waste water

    Large urban settlements, growing populations and more intense rainfall events create a serious threat to water quality from combined sewer overflows

  • Changes to the natural flow and water levels

    Endemic physical modifications to the watercourse and catchment exacerbate irregular flows and water levels in a water scarce region

Wider water environment challenges identified by partnership

  • Reduce storm overflows and drainage system incidents

    Projected population growth will further exacerbate inadequacy of wastewater infrastructure, already significantly affecting water quality

  • Build environmental resilience and adaptation to climate change

    The impacts of climate change on water resources in the landscape will be felt most acutely in the south east - already a water scarce region

  • Support Nature Recovery Network and Local Nature Recovery Strategy

    Landscape-scale recovery has huge potential in the Medway and will ultimately have the most profound and lasting impact on the catchment

  • Protect and restore healthy soils and nutrient balance

    Significant agricultural land use in the catchment means widespread soil health improvements could have a profound benefit

  • Removing plastics/litter from the water environment

    Large catchment, with many urban clusters, is a significant source of litter to the Thames Estuary and the Channel

  • Connecting communities with nature

    Engaging local people and stakeholders is a huge untapped resource in the Medway that could catalyse the Partnership's work

Future challenges predicted by partnership

  • Pollution from agriculture and rural areas

    The Medway catchment has a broad mixture of agricultural enterprises, only by working in partnership to understand and manage risks can we meet this challenge across the catchment

  • Pollution from waste water

    Significant pressure upon the catchment from proposed large numbers of new housing in an area where existing infrastructure is already inadequate

  • Changes to the natural flow and water levels

    Water scarcity from both increased demand and the impacts of climate change (longer drier summers), in an already water stressed part of the country

Future challenges predicted by Environment Agency

Future challenges in 2050

  • Invasive Non-native Species
  • Pollution from waste water
  • Physical Modifications

Emerging challenges

  • Pollution from waste water
  • Physical Modifications
  • Pollution from Agriculture and Rural Areas

Partnership success highlights 2016 to 2021

A 3-year partnership project (FRAMES) was delivered to help increase the resilience of communities and infrastructure to flood risk, using natural flood management (NFM) such as leaky woody structures and offline storage ponds. Completing habitat restoration projects along the River Teise greatly increased the variation of habitat and habitat connectivity along the river. This work included removing four weirs and introducing woody deflectors to narrow the channel and vary the flow. The Holistic Water for Horticulture (HWH) project works with fruit farms to encourage adoption of water saving measures and increase farm resilience to water scarcity, as well as reducing abstraction pressures on local water courses in an increasingly water scarce region. The PROWATER project began in 2017 and made significant strides in developing a partnership approach to delivering Ecosystem-based Adaptation measures to increase resilience to water scarcity across the Medway. The Invasive Non-native Species project delivered with local organisations has treated over 15,000 giant hogweed plants and has consistently reduced floating pennywort, which otherwise threatened to compromise the navigability of the Medway. The diversity of projects that are being completed or developed show the catchment partnership’s improving capacity and aptitude to address the issues affecting a large and diverse catchment.

Partnership development plans

We will carry over the momentum from our recent successes and partnership building into future projects that address catchment wide priorities, as well as more localised issues. We will develop and grow the involvement of communities in our partnership approach, to represent their views and build grassroots support. We will take a long term view to addressing the issues that have the greatest impacts on the catchment and evaluate the extent of our progress against clear measurable goals.

Partnership priority actions and measures for 2022 to 2027

  • Confident

    Enhancement/no deterioration measures in 2020-2025 Water Industry National Environment Programme

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    Confirmed water industry national environment programme 2020-2025
    Location
    Medway

  • Confident

    The partnership is growing its capacity to offer a range of land management advice across the catchment

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Other Public funding
    Location
    Medway

  • Confident

    Holistic Water for Horticulture (HWH) is offering support to fruit farms to increase resilience to water scarcity

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage abstractions
    Delivery mechanism
    Grant giving trusts and businesses
    Location
    Medway

  • Confident

    The Plastic Pollution Prevention project is aiming to reduce plastic pollution in the Medway through local engagement

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage urban diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    EU funding
    Location
    Medway

  • Confident

    The INNS project will further strengthen local partnerships to continue to manage threats from invasive species

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage invasive non-native species
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Location
    Medway

  • Less certain

    There is scope to build on the successes of the past three years and add more natural flood management interventions

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage regulated flows
    Delivery mechanism
    Other local funding
    Barriers to delivery
    Project is not yet developed
    Location
    Medway

  • Less certain

    Local interest groups are examining issues in the Upper Medway to inform plans for local action

    Reason for measure
    Control or manage rural diffuse pollution
    Delivery mechanism
    Grant giving trusts and businesses
    Barriers to delivery
    Risks around timing of funding, project is not yet developed
    Location
    Eridge Stream

  • Less certain

    There is more potential for habitat restoration on the River Teise and planned walkovers to scope possible measures

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    WEIF Water Environment Improvement Fund
    Barriers to delivery
    Risks around funding and timing of funding, project is not yet developed
    Location
    Marden Mill Stream

  • Less certain

    Working with farmer clusters to implement nature-based solutions for water on a catchment scale, whilst identifying long term funding strategies

    Reason for measure
    Mitigate the impacts on ecology from physical modifications in modified waters
    Delivery mechanism
    Landscape Recovery (ELMS)
    Barriers to delivery
    Project is not yet developed
    Location
    Medway

  • Less certain

    Scope out possible restoration projects on the River Beult, a Site of Special Scientific Interest

    Reason for measure
    Manage modified habitats
    Delivery mechanism
    Grant giving trusts and businesses
    Barriers to delivery
    Project is not yet developed
    Location
    Hammer Stream

Catchment Partnership contributors

Partners involved in the creation of this page and the actions of the partnership: