The Environment Agency (EA) has a responsibility to ensure that the water off our coasts, and in our main rivers, meets EU standards for cleanliness and safety, whilst the Borough of Poole and Bournemouth Borough Council are riparian owners of the Bourne stream and its banks. 

In 2000 the EA formed the Bourne Stream Partnership to ensure effective management of both the local watercourse and bathing beaches, and the three organisations work together with the Project Officer to lead Partnership projects.

• Environment Agency

• Borough of Poole

• Bournemouth Borough Council

Our other Partners have an interest in the stream and its catchment area too, and help in many different ways to ensure that the Partnership meets its strategic objectives. 

They explain their activities and membership below.

Sembcorp Bournemouth Water (formerly Bournemouth & West Hampshire Water) is a water company, supplying drinking water to nearly 500,000 people in parts of Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch, New Milton, Lymington, Wimborne, Ringwood, Fordingbridge and surrounding areas.  We supply about 150 million litres of water each day although this increases significantly in the summer due to garden watering and visitors to the area.  The increase can be as much as 60 percent company wide and more in particular areas.  

About three-quarters of the water is abstracted from two local rivers, the Avon and the Stour.  The remainder comes from deep boreholes at locations north of Wimborne, near Fordingbridge and in Lymington.  All the water is subject to treatment and careful monitoring of its quality so as to ensure it is safe when it reaches customers.

Inevitably, the abstraction of water for public water supply has some impact on the environment.  All sources such as ours are the subject of licences to abstract which are granted by the Environment Agency.  We do aim to ensure that in the longer term the impact is acceptable and sustainable and we work closely with the Environment Agency and others to be satisfied that this is the case in the future.

We must promote the efficient use of water by our customers and do a variety of things to raise awareness and try to help customers avoid waste of this precious resource.

The Bourne Stream interests us because it flows through the heart of an urban area and is part of many people’s daily lives.  It provides local examples of some of the impacts humans can have on a river and through the Partnership we can demonstrate what improvements can be made to the stream.

We see the Partnership as a very good way of helping us to raise awareness of issues about the water environment and ultimately further encouraging our customers to use water wisely.

Contact Details:

Since 1974, Wessex Water has provided drinking water to 1.1 million people and a sewerage service to 2.5 million customers living in an area stretching from Bristol in the north to Bournemouth in the south.  Our standards of service are among the best in the country, with compliance for water supply, sewage treatment and bathing water quality standards at or near 100%.  Our operating efficiency, measured by independent regulator Ofwat, is in the top band.

Despite our high standards there are still improvements we must make to meet new EU and UK requirements.  We are investing more than £3 million a week between now and March 2005 to improve existing assets and meet new standards.  Recently completed wastewater projects include ultraviolet disinfection at Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, new treatment plants at Weymouth, Swanage and Bridport, phosphorus removal plants at Salisbury and Dorchester and a Biogran production plant in Bournemouth.

Wessex Water is pleased to be a founder member of the Bourne Stream Partnership. Together with our partners, we aim to tackle the pollution issues associated with an urban waterway and provide a better local environment for the enjoyment of all its users.  

www.wessexwater.co.uk

Contact us on 0845 600 4 600 (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm)

David Elliott

Divisional Manager, Wessex Water, 2, Nuffield Road, Poole BH17 0RL

Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) is the largest voluntary wildlife organisation in Dorset. It aims to enhance and safeguard wildlife and wild places in Dorset by:

• Acquiring and managing 3,000 acres of nature reserves

• Helping local communities to undertake conservation projects

• Advising farmers and landowners

• Administering Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCIs)

• Influencing government policies and statutory organisations

• Advising county planners

DWT is a partner in the Bourne Stream Partnership to highlight conservation issues and help local people to enjoy the wildlife along the river corridor. DWT manages Alder Hills, a nature Reserve near Alder Road in the Bourne Stream corridor and has recognised two SNCIs in the Bourne Stream corridor. These are Alderney Wood, which is wet woodland and Winston Avenue, which is heath/acid grassland.

DWT can give advice on habitats and species along the Bourne Corridor such as Water Voles and has produced the ‘Living Streams Action Pack’ for community groups, schools and businesses who want to improve streams in the Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch area and need some guidance.

For more information:

Bournemouth University is home to approximately 13,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The School of Conservation Sciences is one of seven distinct Schools committed to ‘vocational education as a pathway towards career success’. 

The activities of the School are organised into Environmental and Geographical Sciences (EGS) and Archaeology and the Historic Environment (AHE). The focus of EGS is the applied science and management of contemporary environmental systems. The Group’s commitment is to:

• Teaching and learning

• Applied research

• Enterprise activities

Bournemouth University is a partner in the Bourne Stream Partnership primarily to foster the continued integration of the University with its local catchment, but also to contribute to the research of the Bourne Stream, in partnership with relevant stakeholders via undergraduate, postgraduate or staff projects.

If you'd like more information please contact:

Greenlink is a local authority partnership from South East Dorset working on projects that promote countryside access, cycling and walking.  The primary partners are Dorset County Council, Bournemouth Borough Council, Borough of Poole, East Dorset District Council, Christchurch Borough Council and Purbeck District Council.

Bournemouth Oceanarium

Visit their web site here

The Dorset Coast Forum held its inaugural meeting in February 1995.  Since then it has met twice a year to discuss the strategic issues facing the Dorset coast.

Charged with developing a greater understanding among the authorities, agencies and interest and user groups, the Forum has concentrated on themed debates across a broad range of topic areas ranging from the coastal environment to fisheries, ports and shipping, marine aggregates, pollution and water quality.

The overriding aim of the Forum is to promote a sustainable approach to the management, use and development of the Dorset Coastal Zone, to ensure that the inherent natural and cultural qualities of the coast are maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations.

This aim is met by:

• Encouraging co-operation and dialogue between the different interests and users of the coast.

• Encouraging the gathering and dissemination of knowledge and the carrying out of necessary research in relation to the physical processes, natural environment and human use of the Dorset Coastal Zone.

• Reviewing existing national, regional and local coastal policies and working towards the production of integrated policies specific to the Dorset Coastal Zone.

·    The Dorset Coast Strategy has been prepared on behalf of the Dorset Coast Forum.  It sets out a long-term future for the coast, covering the coastline and inshore seas from Lyme Regis to Christchurch.  The Strategy aims to bring together all of the key interests to agree principles and priorities for the future use of the coast, and support co-ordinated practical action.  As land and sea are currently managed and planned separately, the Strategy provides integrated policies for the whole of the coastal zone for the first time.

The Dorset Coast Forum are pleased to be a partner in the Bourne Stream project as the work being undertaken highlights how relatively small changes inland can have dramatic effects on our coastline.