Herefordshire Water Abstraction Group
(HWAG)

The Herefordshire Water Abstraction Group (HWAG) was set up over 6 years ago to act as a conduit for local abstractors to source information and be given information about irrigation matters. The initial idea came from a local grower (John Chinn of Cobrey Farms). We now have over 30 members and a combined abstraction of over a million m3 of water from various sources. Most are in the Herefordshire soft fruit industry and use trickle irrigation, a system that is now being used to irrigate potatoes on lighter land.

Peter Gwynne, who organises the group is a member of UKIA and represents the group at meetings with the NFU, Environment Agency, and local conservation groups, such as The Wye and Usk Foundation (WUF) which is tasked with looking after our local river network.

These meetings are important for sourcing grant funding to improve water use efficiency, exchanging information, and protecting our important water source going forward. Communication among members is by email and is very informal (and free) so that questions can be passed on to the right person/persons within an organisation. Over the past few years, we have seen a big increase in the construction of water storage reservoirs locally to mitigate the onset of Hands-Off Flows which are being attached to all new licences.

The key words for our group are communication and planning.