Water Restoration Fund
Development Grants of between £75,000 and £250,000 and Delivery Grants of between £500,000 and £2,000,000 are available to a range of organisations, including environmental non-governmental organisations and local authorities, for grassroots projects to improve the water environment, including activities that enhance biodiversity and community access to blue and green spaces in areas where water companies have been issued with fines or penalties.
Who can apply: farmers and landowners, environmental and other not-for-profit organisations, Local Authorities, National Parks and National Landscapes, and catchment partnerships in selected areas of England. Partnership/consortia proposals are welcomed.
Key words: Local Community-led Projects that Restore and Improve Inland and Estuarine Waters and Wetlands, Improving Biodiversity and Community Access to Blue and Green Spaces, Areas of England served by Anglian Water, South West Water, Thames Water, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has announced that up to £11 million in water company fines and penalties will be reinvested back into a new Water Restoration Fund (WRF).
The funding comes exclusively from water company fines and penalties. These penalties and fines are additional to any reparations that water companies make when they have breached environmental regulations and has been allocated for water improvements in the water company areas on which they were accrued in, namely:
- Anglian Water: £3,085,000.
- South West Water: £2,150,000.
- Thames Water: £3,334,000.
- United Utilities: £800,000, and
- Yorkshire Water: £1,600,750.