He writes:
The overwhelming majority of our 55,000 members rely wholly or partially on mains water supply to meet both their domestic and/or ‘general purpose’ business needs such as livestock drinking, and food and equipment washing. Some horticultural producers, particularly those growing salads and fruit, rely on mains water for its quality and security of supply.
The farming sector is particularly interested in future challenges related to water scarcity and the relationship between water security and food security, particularly during the type of dry conditions that we are currently dealing with.
Farmers and growers will be affected by the developing water market in a number of ways...
Farmers as customers of mains water
Farmers are interested in the affordability of water, but perhaps even more - in view of the geographical isolation of farms - the level of service provided by their wholesale supplier.
I suspect that farmers are a good example of customers who could be vulnerable and in need of protection when things go wrong. Just think about those farmers who, during drought, have to contend with reduced mains pressure because they are at the end of the pipe and who struggle to get reliable access to water for livestock drinking.
We recently conducted a member survey leading up to the launch of the new water retail market and the results gave us new insight into how our members use - and want to use – retail services. We found that farmers:
- Expect offers of relatively large savings on their water bills to induce them to switch supplier and
- Keen to explore ‘value added’ services that retailers could offer such leak detection, smart meters, water recycling schemes and electronic billing services
- We found a clear hierarchy of interest in different types of service which, not surprisingly, changed when we asked farmers supplementary questions about their willingness to pay.
Competing abstractors of water
Farmers and growers (particularly those who grow high value fruit and vegetables) rely on direct abstraction of water, especially in the more water-stressed catchments of the South and East of England. Irrigated crops need to receive water in the right place in the right volume at the right time.
The licensed allocation of ‘Water for Food’ tends to be sufficient in years of normal/average rainfall but spray irrigation practices can face severe pressures during periods of drought and dry weather. We are particularly interested in how Defra’s abstraction reform proposals could recognise the essential need of water for food production to sit alongside the essential need for public water supply and the need to protect the environment.
The continued development of water storage (on farm or otherwise) is the single most important way to improve our sector’s water security and resilience to climate change.
We would like the tax system to acknowledge the significant cost of building reservoirs by allowing capital allowances against the investment, and we would welcome improvements in the planning system to expressly encourage growth to the network of farm reservoirs.
We are also keen to work with water companies on long term solutions such as multi-use storage reservoirs.
At some future point farmers may be interested in building reservoirs, not to irrigate crops but to trade with other sectors, but I expect will remain a low priority with them for some time.
Land managers
Farming operations can have an impact on the quality of drinking water. One of our biggest challenges is to find ways of producing more food whilst minimising our impact on the environment.
Farmers can deliver on this dual aim with the help of new technologies, good advice and access to research and development; and a supportive catchment management approach.
Customers of biosolids
The use of sewage sludge on farms as a fertiliser, under safe conditions for human health and the environment, is a good opportunity to reuse valuable nutrients on land.
But quality assurance is vital to the use of biosolids in food production. The existing biosolids assurance scheme has been established with collaboration from the majority of water companies to improve and homogenise the quality of sludge spread to land.
Going forward, it will be really important to ensure that the expanding and changing market builds on progress that has been made on quality standards so that we maintain the confidence of the food supply chain in the proper treatment of sludge.