Eastern England is home to some of the UK’s most exciting businesses, most beautiful natural sites, most fertile agricultural land and most prestigious academic institutions – and it’s set to grow rapidly over the coming decades. Three of the UK’s five fastest-growing cities, the Thames Gateway and the M11, A11 and M1 growth corridors are all in the Eastern region – making a significant contribution to growth nationally.
But Eastern England has other attributes that make it uniquely vulnerable to water shortage and severe weather events. Nearly 30% of the land mass is below sea level, a huge proportion of the area is used for agricultural production, it’s the driest region in the UK and the East has one of the longest coastlines of any region.
With the increasing risk of drought and the surge in demand for food, energy and services that is likely in future, there is a very real risk that a lack of water could limit growth and development in the East. In the WRE region, which covers 31,000 square kilometres from the Humber in the North to Basildon in the South and Northampton in the West to the Eastern coast, is predicted to face a gap between supply and demand of up to 750 mega litres a day (ML/d) if the region carries managing water resources in the same way – the equivalent of 40 Olympic sized swimming pools daily.
Our History
Water Resources East (WRE) was formed in 2014 by Anglian Water, with the aim to learn from international best practice on how to develop a more collaborative approach to water resource management planning in a region under significant pressure due to population growth and economic ambition, the need for enhanced environmental protection and climate change pressure.
WRE's focus since 2014 has been on multi-sector water resource planning. This is because Eastern England is characterised by its diversity of water use, including very significant non-public water supply users, particularly irrigated agriculture, food production and energy.
Our Strategy
WRE has published a seven-part strategy for the region which seeks to:
But Eastern England has other attributes that make it uniquely vulnerable to water shortage and severe weather events. Nearly 30% of the land mass is below sea level, a huge proportion of the area is used for agricultural production, it’s the driest region in the UK and the East has one of the longest coastlines of any region.
With the increasing risk of drought and the surge in demand for food, energy and services that is likely in future, there is a very real risk that a lack of water could limit growth and development in the East. In the WRE region, which covers 31,000 square kilometres from the Humber in the North to Basildon in the South and Northampton in the West to the Eastern coast, is predicted to face a gap between supply and demand of up to 750 mega litres a day (ML/d) if the region carries managing water resources in the same way – the equivalent of 40 Olympic sized swimming pools daily.
Our History
Water Resources East (WRE) was formed in 2014 by Anglian Water, with the aim to learn from international best practice on how to develop a more collaborative approach to water resource management planning in a region under significant pressure due to population growth and economic ambition, the need for enhanced environmental protection and climate change pressure.
WRE's focus since 2014 has been on multi-sector water resource planning. This is because Eastern England is characterised by its diversity of water use, including very significant non-public water supply users, particularly irrigated agriculture, food production and energy.
Our Strategy
WRE has published a seven-part strategy for the region which seeks to:
- Work with all water users in Eastern England to become as water efficient as they can be
- Retain and store more water in the landscape of the region.
- Move water into and around the region, from areas of surplus to areas of deficit.
- Link land and water management more effectively, increasing resilience and restoring and enhancing natural systems.
- Understand where abstraction is having a detrimental impact on the environment, and develop options which restore and enhance it whilst ensuring sustainable economic development.
- Explore alternative sources of water, including desalination and water re-use.
- Contribute to low carbon strategies and plans to meet a net zero ambition.