Making Space For Water Project

The Making Space for Water Project is investigating a new approach to flood management. Moors for the Future in partnership with the Environment Agency aim to demonstrate how our natural resources can help to protect against flooding.

About the|Project

The Upper Derwent catchment, located within the Peak District National Park, is a major source of water for regular flood events affecting the entire length of the River Derwent including the Lower Derwent and City of Derby downstream into the Trent towards Nottingham and beyond. The upland catchment for these regions in the Peak District is predominantly moorland, giving way to extensive areas of farmland.

The Making Space for Water in the Upper Derwent Valley Project aims at demonstrating how practical restoration of degraded moorland can add benefit to reducing flood risk at the same time as delivering other benefits. Practical work conducted could reduce the impact of flooding downstream by holding water back and increasing the time it takes for rainwater to reach the river during a storm. The project will restore presently heavily eroded moorland by blocking drainage channels and re-establishing vegetation on bare soils.

Location

The Kinder Plateau is one of the most degraded areas of the Peak District.  The Making Space for Water project will be restoring The Edge which is in the Ashop Catchment of the Upper Derwent, shown on the map below.

Aerial photograph of The Edge showing the gullies to be blocked in red

• Altitude - 625m (2050 feet)
• Climate - above average rain fall, below average winter and summer temperatures (summer average of 11-120C) with pronounced winter diurnal fluctuations leading to freeze thaw cycles causing frost heave in the ground surface
• Site size - 89 hectares (220 acres)
• Treatments - lime, seed and fertiliser applications; Heather brash spreading; aerial application of seed, plug planting, gully blocks

 Causes of Moorland Erosion

There are substantial areas of the moorland where the peat soil is being eroded. This erosion is the result of several factors:-

• Summer fires - which kill the plants and may burn the top layers of peat soil. It can take many years for the vegetation to re-colonise.
• Harsh climate – The moorland restoration sites are predominately between 500-600 metres above sea level and the average temperatures are low (summer average of 11-12°C). This results in very slow rates of re-growth of the moorland plants.
• Pollution - Acid Rain has affected the Peak Park’s moorlands for 200 years. Oxides of sulphur and nitrogen are emitted from factories and power stations and also from cars. These dissolve in rainwater or mist and are deposited as dilute acids. They especially affect mosses and lichens and have been responsible for the decrease in sphagnum moss.
• Grazing pressure - over-grazing by sheep can reduce heather and prevent vegetation getting reestablished on bare ground.
• Trampling - many thousands of tourists hike over the moors, wearing away the sparse vegetation and exposing the bare peat which is then subject to erosion.

 Restoration Methods

Grips and Gullies

Stabilising and revegetating bare peat

Heather brash

Plant Propagation

Monitoring and Research

Manchester University Upland Environments Research Unit (UpERU) are carrying out research on an area of Kinder Scout (The Edge) to establish the run-off characteristics of restored and unrestored locations. UpERU will test the hypotheses that:

1. The Ashop Catchment

   storm-flow runoff ratios are lower in restored areas than in un-restored areas
2. runoff peaks are delayed and/or reduced in restored areas compared to unrestored areas

 Expected Outputs

Main benefit:

Practical work could provide peak flood buffering reducing flood-risk to communities downstream which could also prepare against climate change extremes.

Multiple Benefits:

• Biodiversity - conditions of SSSIs could be expected to improve (assisting Defra’s PSA 3 target) along with improved river ecosystems
• Carbon - Preventing the erosion of carbon stores and improving carbon sequestration locked in upland peat deposits contributing to tackling climate change
• Water Quality - Improvement of raw water quality following reductions in sediment and colour contamination
• Cultural – improvement of the environment for visitors, local communities and schools including opportunities to raise public awareness of environmental issues
• Economic - The project is not designed to bring direct economic benefits or enable any competitive advantage. However there may be hard to quantify economic benefits for:

·         Tourism - arising from improvements in biodiversity, conservation and landscape

·         Reservoirs - maintenance costs could be lower owing to reduced sedimentation

·         Agriculture - potential for increasing the agricultural value of restored moorland. Land whose quality has been in terminal decline for many years from erosion and consequent loss of nutrients may, following rejuvenation, become available once more for economically sustainable agriculture and recreation practices, with game keeping and sheep grazing to name but two.

·         Water quality - improvements may provide wider economic benefits from a reduction in water treatment costs by reducing colouration at source, rather than treatment plants.

·         Water quality - improvements may present benefits to fisheries.

 Partners

Sister Projects

The funding is part of £28 million which DEFRA has allocated to fund projects that help communities adapt to changing flood risk in the face of climate change.

Making Space for Water is one of three pilot projects nationwide to receive a total of £1 million of Defra funding. The aim is to demonstrate how our natural resources can help protect against flooding

Our sister projects are:

Slowing the Flow at Pickering – Project managed by the Forestry Commission

Holnicote Estate – project managed by the National Trust