Farm Integrated Runoff Management (FIRM) Plans are at the heart of the PROACTIVE approach. FIRM Plans are committed to the concept of the storage, slowing, filtering and infiltration of runoff on farms at source. We believe this to be practical, achievable and could easily be funded by the strategic investment of agri-environment, flood mitigation, waste recycling and renewable energy/ carbon reduction subsidies. The best place to control runoff is at source and within hours of the runoff generation. These spatial and temporal windows of opportunity are not being fully exploited in environmental management

A FIRM Plan = Ponds, barriers, bunds, traps and buffer zones (that work)

If a typical farm or small catchment can sacrifice 5-10% of the landscape to runoff storage and mitigation features then the properties of the runoff regime can be radically altered.

Ponds, bunds wetlands, buffer strip have all been designed, constructed and tested at Nafferton farm in Northumberland. All features are multi-functional and will address pollution reduction, lower flood risk, trap and recycle waste, use recycled material and create new ecological zones. FIRM plans can be achieved without damaging the profits of the farm and can funded through an imaginative, strategic integrated funding mechanisms. All the constructed features can be demonstrated to be working to reduce pollution, store and slow runoff and to trap and recycle waste on the farm. The operational performance of the features during large storm events is still to be proven. We will not be recommending all the features listed in the report for adoption on farms, but crucially we have gained the experience to recommend a series of practical, fundable interventions that could work at the larger catchment scale and address urgent Water Framework Directive needs, for example:-

• All fast and polluting flow paths can be disconnected from the channel network.
• Ponds, barriers, bunds can physically store large amounts of runoff.
• All features help to slow flow, creating ‘transient storage’.
• Wetlands are slowly de-nitrifying the runoff, but large amounts of buffering capacity will be needed on farms, but this may allow more flow to be slowed.
• Sediment and nutrients can be trapped and recycled. A one-off sediment and phosphorus trap can reduce Total P by 20-60% even during storms.
• Saturated buffer strips are denitrifying the flow and they have the potential to treat large amounts of flow and the act as flood retardation channels.
• Ditches can be widened and can act as sediment traps, wetlands and flood retardation channels.
• FIRM plans will need farmers to adopt new sediment management plans and sediment/nutrient recovery plans.

FIRM Plans propose:-

• A small pond in every field, to slow flow and capture sediment and Phosphorus
• Barriers within ditches
• Wetlands and sediment traps in ditches
• Buffer strips that are put to effective work
• Bunds and drains to control flow across the farm

Design Matters! The size, location, materials and vegetation used in the proposed features are the key to the practical, economical implementation and maintenance of FIRM plans. Solid evidence and experience to support FIRM plans has been gained at Nafferton Farm (Northumberland). The message is simple but achievable: INTERCEPT, STORE, SLOW and FILTER Runoff during storm events, using strategically placed engineered features.

Click Here for printer friendly version of this page

Top of page