Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has announced a further £150,000 of funding for non-profit organisations to help improve the quality of Welsh rivers, lakes and wetlands.

The announcement was made at a meeting of the Independent Environmental Advisory Panel to Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (IEAP), a group of environmental organisations and leading academics which was established by Welsh Water to offer independent environmental advice and guidance to the company.

The initial £400,000 scheme, launched by Welsh Water in July 2012, was created to match a fund operated by the Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and aims to help implement the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) within Welsh Water’s supply area.

The Directive aims to improve and ensure good quality of rivers, lakes, transitional waters, and coastal waters in all member states of the European Union. Since that announcement, the Independent Environment Advisory Panel has been advising Welsh Water on the merits of projects submitted for funding.

To date, six projects have been approved to receive funding, including;

• £41,000 to the ‘Loving our Lake’ project of the Snowdonia Active which aims to reduce phosphates in Llyn Padarn.
• £75,000 to the ‘Monmouthshire Olway and Trothy’ project of the Wye & Usk Foundation which aims to reduce the adverse impact of agriculture in the catchments.
• £75,000 to the ‘Upper Tywi Catchment Restoration Project’ of the Carmarthenshire Rivers Trust to reduce acidification.
• £1,000 to the ‘Alun and Chwiler Living Landscapes Scoping’ project of the North Wales Wildlife Trust.
• £70,000 to the ‘River Schools’ educational programme by Groundwork North Wales to raise awareness about the river environment.
• £100,000 to the ‘Clear Streams Swansea’ project to reduce surface water entering the sewerage network and changes attitudes and behaviour towards the water environment.

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s Director of Environment, Tony Harrington said:

“We are delighted to be able to announce a further investment of £150,000 to extend this innovative scheme. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water is the only water company in the UK to operate such a scheme and this additional funding shows our commitment to working with other non-profit organisations to further improve our beautiful environment.

“This will support ‘on the ground’ and ‘in the water’ projects that improve the health of the water environment within the Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water supply area. The funding will be targeted at waters or protected areas that are failing to reach objectives under the Water Framework Directive, and have links to our assets or operations.

“The projects funded so far show Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s ambitions toward a new way of working in partnership with other organisations and has secured other funding for each project from third parties.

“We hope this will encourage innovative projects to help deliver long-lasting environmental improvements for future generations to enjoy.”

Welsh Water has funded six projects to date, many of which will work within communities. One of the projects funded by Welsh Water is the Loving our Lake project. Project Officer, Dr Emma Edwards-Jones said:

“Snowdonia-Active has been delighted to work in partnership with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water to deliver Loving our Lake, with the support of Natural Resources Wales. By working together we have managed to celebrate a beautiful and much loved part of Wales and harnessed that positive energy to encourage people to make small changes to their lifestyles to help improve water quality in Llyn Padarn. Loving our Lake represents a unique collaboration between private, public and third sector organisations working together to deliver environmental benefits.”