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Often referred to as ‘England’s rainforests’, chalk streams spring up from underground chalk reservoirs; their clear, shallow waters making them havens to hundreds of wildlife species.
Over 85% of the worlds chalk streams are found in Southern and Eastern England, and they are under threat due to the increasing population, historical river changes, climate change and more. We’re working hard to protect and enhance these precious ecosystems and improve our regions resilience to climate change.
Restoring the health of these precious streams, enhancing the environment and taking care of wildlife depends on collective action. We're working hard to reduce the amount of water we need to take from our rivers, but we also need the help of farmers, and landowners as well as government and regulators to reduce things like run off from fields and roads preventing sediment and excess amounts of nutrients like phosphates from getting into our rivers.
This will mean better habitats and biodiversity for a wider number of species of invertebrates and fish, as well as reducing risk of low river levels during dry weather.
Enhancing ecosystem
We continue to support and protect wildlife in these precious environments, simply because it’s the right thing to. Natural flood management techniques, such as tree planting reduces the risk of flooding by controlling high river flows during heavy rainfall. Which is why we are planting 11 million trees in partnership across the water industry by 2030, to make more green spaces, improve air quality and combat climate change.
As of 2025, we have reduced the amount of water we take from sensitive areas, and we have committed to going further by 2030, reducing abstraction by more than 85 million litres per day - leaving more for ecosystems to flourish.
River Lark
A particular area of focus is the River Lark, in Suffolk, where we’ve agreed with the Environment Agency to change the way we take water during periods of lower river flow, to help leave more for the environment. By 2030, we have committed to delivering more targeted restoration of these river systems, increasing resilience within the ecosystem whilst we explore longer term options as part of setting an environmental destination with regulators and other abstractors. This will help natural river features to be reinstated such as meanders, gravel beds and riffles to encourage native species and increase biodiversity.
Our river restoration schemes across the region focus on enhancing unique river habitats, improving ecology and biodiversity. Find out more about our regions river health and how you can help us to keep rivers healthy.
We are proud to support the River Lark as our chalk stream flagship project, which sees a transition from planning to action between 2025 and 2030. This flagship will explore the development and delivery of collaborative projects to achieve wider environmental gains in the river Lark.