The Greater Cambridge Chalk Stream Project, funded by Cambridge City Council, Cambridge Water (part of South Staffordshire Plc), Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), Anglian Water and the Hobson Conduit Trust, marks a major milestone in the protection and restoration of some of the UK’s most fragile and rare ecosystems.

Chalk streams are among the most exceptional freshwater habitats on Earth—85% of the world’s total are found in England. Yet, despite their global significance, they are facing a critical decline due to over-abstraction, pollution, habitat degradation and climate change.

The water that feeds these chalk streams is the same source that supplies over 350,000 customers in the water company’s region. The chalk aquifer holds large quantities of water in a network of fractures and cracks in the rock which is abstracted from 24 boreholes - mostly abstracted from the chalk aquifer which lies to the south and east of Cambridge.

The Greater Cambridge Chalk Stream Project is an evidence-driven initiative bringing together scientists, conservationists and local communities, that will ensure restoration efforts are grounded in long-term data and meaningful action.

Actions involved in the project include:

• Science-led, data-driven restoration – using real-time monitoring and in-depth ecological assessments to ensure interventions deliver measurable improvements
• A whole-catchment approach – tackling not just in-stream habitat loss but also the wider pressures of water quality, sedimentation and land use
• Community-powered conservations –including citizen science projects (water monitoring and species surveys)

Over the next five years, Cambridge Water will be investing £19 million to deliver its environmental obligations across Cambridge and South Staffs. This includes implementing river enhancement and restoration projects for seven chalk streams in the Cambridge region to help improve their ecological status.

The utility will also be reducing abstraction from environmentally sensitive sites in the region and investing in water resources, working closely with Anglian Water to develop a pipeline from Grafham Water Reservoir to Cambridge and build a new Fens Reservoir which is scheduled to come into supply in the late 2030s.