Dr Martin Blackwell, Senior Project Manager
WaterGrid Project
Westcountry Rivers Trust
Project full title: Nature Based Smart Water Grids for Integrated Water and Drought Management
GENERAL:
Horizon Europe Project
September 2025 – August 2029
Total budget: €7.55 M
23 partners
13 countries
WRT lead partner
• Across a range of bioclimatic zones • Range of scales • Range of settings (including urban)
Aim 1: Take farms ‘off-grid’ Reduce reliance on mains water Active water batteries
Aim 2: Maintain river baseflows and groundwater tables (for abstraction purposes) Passive water batteries
Floodplain restoration and channel creation
Infiltration ponds (groundwater recharge)
Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and tree pits
• Nature-based solutions (NBS) are actions or measures inspired by, supported by, or copied from nature.
• For drought resilience it focuses on measures that can store water available in times of plenty such as winter and storm rainfall, so it’s available in times of deficit.
High biodiversity value
Potential clogging of pipes
Greater need for purification
Drawdown can damage ecology
Cleaner water
Less clogging risk
No damage on drawdown
Little biodiversity benefit
• Mapping areas most suitable for locating ponds
• Funding to construct 20 ponds
Upper Tamar and Luckett catchments
Ephemeral ponds Bunds and swales
Jenny Wytcherley
Holly Pearson
Sarah Wigley
