What are nature-based solutions?
Nature-based solutions offer natural alternatives to our traditional services, which often require chemicals and use lots of energy.
They include constructing wetlands (instead of building water recycling centres or wastewater treatment process units) to help clean sewage effluent before it is released back into the environment.
We also work with local farmers (instead of building water treatment works) to prevent pesticides and nutrients from entering our water supply at the source.
These solutions are far more environmentally friendly as they lower our carbon footprint, while also protecting and enhancing wildlife across the region, tackling the effects of climate change and mitigating the impact of our activities.
How they work
Nature-based solutions, like wetlands and reedbeds, behave as filtration systems, slowing the water’s journey back to the environment.
They allow suspended silt to settle on the wetland bed or trap it in the roots of plants, taking many harmful environmental contaminants with it.
Slowing the water also allows the water chemistry to rebalance, as naturally occurring bacteria have enough time to convert toxic nutrients from the sewerage system, agriculture and other sources.
How we’re leading the way
We’ve been pioneers of the water industry’s trialling of nature-based solutions and, between 2025 and 2030, we’re stepping up this commitment even more.
Following approval from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), we’ll partner with national agencies, local authorities and environmental organisations to build 31 nature-based solutions across our region in the next five years, as part of the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP).
We will lead the industry in delivering wetlands, reedbeds, swales and floating reedbeds, specifically to demonstrate their effectiveness in treating groundwater-influenced storm overflows and the further treatment of final effluent from our water recycling centres, in-river and on-farm wetlands and those upstream of water supply reservoirs.
You can see the 31 sites earmarked for these nature-based solutions below – and we will be providing updates on their progress as they are implemented.
