Water Act 2003

Find out what this means and how abstraction licences will affect our work.

The Water Act 2003 has changed the way the Trust abstracts water from rivers and streams so that there is increased environmental protection and sustainable use of water resources. The Water Management Team have successfully applied for and received 152 abstraction licences across our feeders, reservoir outflows and pumps. We worked closely with the regulators over a three-year period to try to balance the operational requirements of the canals that these abstractions support with the environmental protection of the streams and rivers we abstract from.

To ensure the licence conditions have been embedded effectively across the Trust, the Water Management Team have produced an operational guidance document for each abstraction. They have also led a site visit at each abstraction location to roll out these documents and provide the Regional and Engineering teams with the necessary tools and understanding to maintain legal compliance. Periodically, the regulators inspect the abstraction locations to ensure that we are abstracting in compliance with the licence conditions.

The abstraction licences control the means of abstraction, that is the dimensions of the flow control structures. These are mainly weirs and sluices, that are in place at feeders and reservoir outflows, as well as pumps. Licences may also have conditions on the amount of water we can take and when we can take it. For example, we cannot alter licensed structures to increase the amount of water we take, and during dry flow conditions we may be issued with a ‘hands off flow' order (HOFs) to stop all abstraction.

In order to manage our water resources efficiently the Water Management Team now also monitor river flows daily in many places nationally so that HOFs can be anticipated and then responded to efficiently by our operational staff.