Cambridge City Council has launched a new initiative to help restore chalk streams in the region. 

The Greater Cambridge Chalk Stream Project, funded by Cambridge City Council, Cambridge Water (part of South Staffordshire Plc), Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), Anglian Water and the Hobson Conduit Trust, marks a major milestone in the protection and restoration of some of the UK’s most fragile and rare ecosystems.

Chalk streams are among the most exceptional freshwater habitats on Earth—85% of the world’s total are found in England. Their cool, spring-fed waters sustain an extraordinary range of wildlife, from brown trout and water crowfoot to mayflies and starworts. Yet, despite their global significance, they are facing a critical decline due to over-abstraction, pollution, habitat degradation and climate change.

The water that feeds these chalk streams is the same source that supplies over 350,000 customers in our region. The chalk aquifer holds large quantities of water in a network of fractures and cracks in the rock and we abstract it from 24 boreholes. Our drinking water is mostly abstracted from the chalk aquifer which lies to the south and east of Cambridge.

The Greater Cambridge Chalk Stream Project is a bold, evidence-driven initiative bringing together scientists, conservationists and local communities, that will ensure restoration efforts are grounded in long-term data and meaningful action. 

What does the project involve? 

• Science-led, data-driven restoration – using real-time monitoring and in-depth ecological assessments to ensure interventions deliver measurable improvements
• A whole-catchment approach – tackling not just in-stream habitat loss but also the wider pressures of water quality, sedimentation and land use
• Community-powered conservations – to take part you can: join a volunteer day and help with restoration, join a citizen science projects (water monitoring and species surveys), support the project through donations or advocacy or spread awareness

What is Cambridge Water doing to protect and enhance chalk streams? 

Over the next five years, as part of a five-year plan to secure your water future, we will be investing £19 million to deliver our environmental obligations across Cambridge and South Staffs. This includes implementing river enhancement and restoration projects for seven chalk streams in our Cambridge region to help improve their ecological status. These include the River Granta, Mill River, the River Mel, Vicars Brook and Cherry Hinton Brook.

We will also be reducing abstraction from environmentally sensitive sites in our region and investing in our water resources, working closely with Anglian Water to develop a pipeline from Grafham Water Reservoir to Cambridge and build a new Fens Reservoir which is scheduled to come into supply in the late 2030s. 

For further information about The Greater Cambridge Chalk Stream Project contact: nature@cambridge.gov.uk