The Cunliffe Review, released today, proposes a major overhaul of how water is planned and regulated across the UK. Among its headline recommendations is the creation of new regional water system planning authorities, several for England, and one for Wales.
But where does that leave rivers like the Dee?
The Dee begins in Wales, where reservoirs store and manage drinking water. It then flows into England, where that water is abstracted to supply cities like Liverpool well outside the catchment. Under the proposed system, two separate regional authorities could end up responsible for different parts of the same river: one managing water storage and release, the other handling abstraction and supply.
The potential for misalignment is obvious and stark.
The Dee already suffers from ageing infrastructure and environmental degradation. It is a prime example of a system that urgently needs joined-up, catchment-based planning. And yet, the Cunliffe Review falls short. It’s only mention of cross-border rivers is the recommendation that:
“It will be important to ensure that river basin planning and associated programmes are coherent and mutually reinforcing across the border, particularly where water bodies and infrastructure are shared.”
Of the 88 recommendations in the report, none directly address the management of cross-border rivers.
At the Welsh Dee Trust, we will continue to push for a truly integrated, catchment-based approach through our Catchment Based Approach programme. Our Objective a River Dee free of pollution and full of wildlife simply cannot be achieved in isolation. But working in partnership is much easier when there’s a joined-up plan to work from.