In 2024 a number of initiatives aimed to help groups of local farmers with water resources challenges, these included Local Resource Options studies and support from Water Resources West to look at agricultural water resources.
Farmers in the wider North Shropshire area came together in 2024 to consider the advantages of forming a Water Abstraction Group, from those initial meetings the Shropshire Severn WAG was born. The first meeting in March 2025 in Telford attracted an incredible amount of support from the local farming community, with 50 people attending. Initial feedback from businesses is encouraging, there is an understanding of the vital nature of water resources and a willingness to work together to solve our future water resources challenges. The new WAG has a steering group who are now focusing on developing a structure and membership offer and have taken some steps towards developing local projects.
For farmers in the River Strine catchment there is a prospect that coordinated collaboration and the deployment of the new telemetry technology could aid them with climate resilience by building networks of water storage and allowing access to high flows over winter. A pilot study in the catchment in 2025 led to the production of a booklet: Smart agricultural water resources management and a symposium on 11 September 2025: Advanced wireless sensors for agricultural water resources management. Full presentations available to view and download.
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