Aquifer

Affinity Water is licensed by the Environment Agency to abstract tens of millions of litres of water per day from the Ver aquifer by pumping from deep underground using several pumping stations along the length of the Valley. However in April 2016 Affinity Water took the pumping station at Bow Bridge off line, consequently reducing abstraction buy about 6 Ml/day. Further reductions are planned by 2025.

Following the Buncefield Oil Depot disaster in December 2005 some pollution of the water table meant the Bow Bridge Pumping Station was not used for nearly three years. Friars Wash Pumping Station has been on stand-by status since 1992 (as a result of pressure by Ver Valley Society) but was used in the summer of 2006 in the drought.

Bow Bridge remained out of use from 2006 to August 2009 due to fears of contamination from the Buncefield firefighting chemicals following the incident. This certainly helped maintain the flow in the Ver in the next few summers. The aquifer was at or above average for much of 2008 and into 2009 but fell below average later in 2009. Following prolonged dry weather the aquifer continued to fall so that by the early months of 2012 it was over 7 metres below average, the worst it had been for over 5 years.

In general the aquifer is only recharged in the winter months as in summer rainfall is used up by vegetation growth and evaporation in the warmer months. Record rainfall in 2012 meant there was a most unusual rise in the aquifer throughout that summer and by the end of 2012 the aquifer was above well average once again; the level rose by about 9 metres in the year. In early 2013 the aquifer was the highest it had been for at least 10 years. Subsequently the aquifer again fell to well below average due to the dry winter of 2014/2015 followed by a dry, warm spring, summer and autumn. By the end of 2015 the aquifer was nearly 5 meters below average but some rain in early 2016 allowed the aquifer to improve slightly but in the summer it was still about 3 meters below the norm. However with low rainfall the aquifer has remained at a low level throughout 2017 and is now at just about the lowest since 1997.

As a general measure of the aquifer situation Ver Valley Society uses groundwater figures measured by Environment Agency at Ballingdon Farm in the upper part of the valley. Recent figures in metres are given below.

Contains Environment Agency information – ©Environment Agency