New project launched to enhance water management and climate resilience on the Hoo Peninsula
Wise Use of Water is along-term project led by the North Kent Marshes Water Level Management Board to better understand how water moves across the marshes and how it can be managed more effectively in the future.
The North Kent marshes support a unique landscape of productive farmland, internationally important wetlands, and coastal communities. However, the area faces increasing pressure from climate change, rising sea levels, andgrowing demand for water resources. Kent is already classified as a seriously water stressed area, and future projections suggest drier summers and wetter winters, creating new challenges for both water resource and land drainage.
The programme is designed to build the evidence base needed to support long term water management across the marshes, working closely with farmers, conservation organisations, and publicbodies. Local knowledge and stakeholder priorities are central to the programme, helping to identify where water could be retained, stored, or redistributed to support agriculture, biodiversity, and flood resilience.
Early work has focused one stablishing a baseline understanding of the water system, including drainage networks, tidal outfalls, water availability, and abstraction pressures.
On the Hoo Peninsula, this work is being delivered in partnership with the RSPB as part of the Medway Council Who’s Hoo Scheme, helping ensure that hydrological evidence supports both landscape recovery ambitions and sustainable land management.
Across the Isle of Sheppey, South Swale, and wider marshes, Across the Isle of Sheppey and South Swale marshes, elements of the programme are also contributing to the Flowing Futures in Climate Resilient Polders initiative, a cross-border project linking water managers in Kent, northern France, and West-Flanders to share knowledge and test innovative approaches to climate-resilient water management.
The findings will help identify priority areas for future investment and partnership working supporting a resilient future for the north Kent marshes.
