Water

It only takes a few weeks of extreme heat, as we had in 2022, to make us realise that we need to look after and make better use of the water we have – whether it is mains supply, rainfall or groundwater.  

Re-B has made a start on a Caring for Our Water project with two elements: 

• Wild Water - ponds, river and brooks and transient wetlands
• Domestic Water

Wild Water: Re-Betchworth Trustee Norman Jackson has compiled a report and action plan focused on the wild water provided by nature through rainfall in rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, and drainage ditches and its importance for plant and animal life.  Go to the RE-Betchworth Biodiversity Project's Wild Water Project: Report #1 Ponds & Lakes to see the full report in detail. 

In summary the report:

• Explores how we can protect, conserve, and expand these essential water resources and make more effective use of nature's water.
• Begins to document the ponds and lakes in Betchworth and Buckland Parishes, using OS and historical maps and remote sensing imagery.  It:
  • Includes an inventory of ponds and lakes along with their map locations.
  • Provides a photographic database that can be updated as new ponds are added or existing ones restored.
  • Clarifies the definitions used and
• Re-iterates the immense value of ponds and lakes, and their multiple uses.  

A pond in your garden?   
While it’s a ‘nice to have’ for us, water is a ‘must have’ for wildlife, so do try and include water somewhere in your garden even if it’s only a birdbath!  There’s a host of internet material  on everything from small ‘container’ or ‘barrel’ ponds to larger endeavours.  You can find a selection of them here.

Domestic water: We’ve hosted two Zoom briefings on two aspects of this:

• Understanding our local water resources and how we might play a more active role in reducing consumption and reusing our water in our homes and gardens. Watch SES’s Rob Baldry’s informative talk.
• Learning how best to manage our increasingly erratic rainfall and water in gardens and allotments with Janet Manning, RHS Wisley’s first garden water scientist. Catch her excellent podcast here.

For more information and resources, go to Re-Betchworth Biodiversity Project’s Caring for Our Water page.