Case study:River Nar Restoration Project

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Location: 52° 38' 26.03" N, 0° 21' 55.06" E

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site
Themes	Economic aspects, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Social benefits, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Mark
Main contact surname	Watson
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	WWF-UK
Contact organisation web site
Partner organisations	Coca-Cola, Natural England, Environment Agency, Norfolk Rivers Drainage Board, Castle Acre Fishing Syndicate, West Acre Fishing Syndicate, private landowners, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Mileham Common Charity Trus-tees
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	River Nar Castle Acre Common WEG project

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Project summary

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Chalk streams are a globally rare and threatened habitat. The Nar is 42 km long, the second longest chalk stream in Norfolk and designated a SSSI. This river catchment is in a rural area with intensive arable farming being the main land use. The upper half of the river flows over chalk, whilst the lower half descends into drained fenland, making the river catchment particularly diverse in form. The river fails to meet the standards of the Water Framework Directive for fish abundance, quantity and dynamics of flow. Poor morphology and poor water quality underpin this failure and require addressing. This project aims to deliver three large-scale reach restorations, improving morphology, water quality, biodiversity and hence ecosystem function.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Lessons learnt

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Catchment and subcatchment

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Site

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Name	River Nar
WFD water body codes
WFD (national) typology
WFD water body name
Pre-project morphology
Reference morphology
Desired post project morphology
Heavily modified water body	No
National/international site designation
Local/regional site designations
Protected species present	No
Invasive species present	No
Species of interest
Dominant hydrology
Dominant substrate
River corridor land use	Intensive agriculture (arable)
Average bankfull channel width category
Average bankfull channel width (m)
Average bankfull channel depth category
Average bankfull channel depth (m)
Mean discharge category
Mean annual discharge (m3/s)
Average channel gradient category
Average channel gradient
Average unit stream power (W/m2)

Project background

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Reach length directly affected (m)
Project started
Works started
Works completed
Project completed
Total cost category	500 - 1000 k€
Total cost (k€)	900900 k€ <br />900,000 € <br />
Benefit to cost ratio
Funding sources	Catchment Restoration Funds

Cost for project phases

Phase	cost category	cost exact (k€)	Lead organisation	Contact forename	Contact surname
Investigation and design
Stakeholder engagement and communication
Works and works supervision
Post-project management and maintenance
Monitoring

Reasons for river restoration

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Mitigation of a pressure	Morphology, Water quality
Hydromorphology	Quantity & dynamics of flow, Channel pattern/planform, Structure & condition of riparianzones
Biology	Fish: Abundance, Macrophytes
Physico-chemical	Nutrient concentrations
Other reasons for the project	Social – reduced costs of cleaning water at point of abstraction, conservation of landscape and wildlife for recreation and enjoyment of all; Economic- more sustainable food pro-duction, improved trout fisheries.

Measures

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Structural measures
Bank/bed modifications
Floodplain / River corridor	Floodplain reconnection
Planform / Channel pattern	Channel naturalisation; Creation of new meandering channel
Other
Non-structural measures
Management interventions
Social measures (incl. engagement)	Some maintenance of completed restored sections is carried out by local fisherman. This allows them to contribute to the health of the catchment. A sense of wider public ownership is fostered by river walks, talks and consultations. A River Nar Conservation Group has also been organised to encourage community involvement in the River Nar restoration project, where we have discussed ideas such as getting school children involved with monitoring fresh water invertebrates.
Other	The Project Officer is working with farmers to help them put in place measures to retain soils and prevent run-off of nutrients and pesticides.

Monitoring

Hydromorphological quality elements

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quality elements

Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative

Biological quality elements

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quality elements

Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative
Fish	No	Yes	No	No	No	Awaiting results

Physico-chemical quality elements

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quality elements

Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative

Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic

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Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
	Before measures	After measures	Qualitative	Quantitative

Monitoring documents

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Image gallery

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Additional documents and videos

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Additional links and references

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Link	Description

Supplementary Information

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