Janet Vutcheva
Between May 2018 and May 2019 the South East of England received 30% less rain than normal. There is no doubt that this has been caused by the climate emergency. This has a devastating effect on our chalk streams and the rich ecology that the streams support.
Chalk streams flow from chalk aquifer, which is an underground water store that gets replenished when it rains. Chalk streams and chalk aquifers provide essential drinking water for people across the south East. Some water companies are 100% dependent on this source of water.
Balancing the needs of people and the environment is a challenge and it’s getting harder. Population growth, particularly in the South East, means that more and more water is required at a time when climate change is reducing the amount of water that is available.
The proposal of the project is for an infrastructural water network which helps restore the ecological health of the English Chalk streams in South East England by harvesting rain water in months when there is more precipitation, storing it and draining it back to the streams in months when there isn’t enough precipitation for nature to support its intricate webs of life.
