Coca-Cola Enterprises is working in conjunction with the WWF-UK and Coca-Cola Great Britain as part of a partnership aimed at reducing our impact on the freshwater environment, investing in natural capital, and encouraging the supply chain, businesses and others to do the same Together we are working together to help deliver local improvements in two exemplar river catchments where Coca-Cola operates. These include the River Nar, where much of the sugar beet that is used by Coca-Cola in Great Britain is sourced, and in London on the River Cray, near one of Coca-Cola’s bottling plants. On the Nar and the Cray, we will firstly focus on "on the ground" conservation activities; aimed at improving land-use practices, in-stream river restoration, and engagement with local stakeholders. As well as these ‘on-the-ground’ conservation activities, we aim to use the lessons from our partnership to highlight better water management practices and create a best practice model for healthier rivers that can be applied nationally. We want to ensure that the impact of our work ripples beyond the boundaries of our two exemplar catchments, helping to improve the health of rivers around the country, and support the achievement of good ecological standards – as required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) We’re working with local river groups developing Catchment Plans for our two exemplar rivers which set out how the rivers will get to good ecological health; and develop ways for tackling pollution and abstraction – two of the biggest threats to river health across the country. By sharing the lessons and experiences from this work we’re supporting strong Catchment Plan development across the country, disseminating key learning and best practice through a series of knowledge exchange workshops with other river groups. Already, our knowledge exchange events are well attended and there is keen interest in sharing lessons and learning from our catchments to assist in development of the 25 Catchment Plans being sponsored by Defra. In addition to this we will use the exemplar catchments as case studies in discussions with government and regulators about what constitutes best practice. The project will support development of policies and regulations that are needed to tackle the issues in our exemplar catchments. For example, unsustainable abstraction is an issue that is threatening ecosystems in the Cray and the Nar. The problem relates back to outdated legislation that allows abstractors to take water even when it is known to damage the environment. We will be addressing this through work on the forthcoming Water Bill and with water companies, using the Nar and the Cray as case studies of why legislative change and solutions including water efficiency and metering are needed. Over the course of our partnership we will: • Increase impacts within our exemplar catchments as we learn from successes elsewhere • Reform legislation in England to ensure that all abstraction is sustainable and sufficient amount of flow is retained in the river to support wildlife • Encourage water companies to take more action to safeguard the environment, including helping their customers use water wisely • Increase adoption of the Water Stewardship model with businesses and the third sector working collaboratively to reduce operational and supply chain impacts of freshwater systems and support delivery of the WFD • Influence the Draft River Basin Management Plans (which the UK is required to produce in 2014 under the WFD) to better reflect the problems in catchments across England and include a clear list of measures that will outline how rivers will be restored and pollution addressed in a set time frame.

Project Results

On the Nar, our project work will focus on: We are working with the Norfolk Rivers Trust to address issues of agricultural diffuse pollution and to help restore sections of the river to help support a thriving river ecosystem. We will do this by; • Producing a Water Framework Directive catchment plan for the River Nar which will set out all the improvements needed to get the Nar to ‘good’ status. • Extensive channel restoration work that will deliver on the ground improvements required to help reach good ecological status. Our restoration work will restore 1km of straightened dredged channel to 1.8km of meandering sinuous channel connected with the floodplain. • Work with local farmers to advise on the implementation of more sustainable land management practices. New technologies now available will not only help reduce negative environmental impacts, by limiting both run off and blow off (blow off is caused when dry, bare soil is blown off unprotected fields and carries soil and nutrients into rivers and streams). but also offer potential cost benefit for the farmers. On the River Nar catchment it is estimated that there are up to 100 farmers who could benefit from such advice. Our project aims to start the process on the River Nar and improve practices in 10% of these farms by December 2013. On the Cray, our project work will focus on: • Delivering measurable improvements on approximately 2km of channel including two discreet in-stream river restorations at Hall Place and adjacent to the Sidcup facility. This is being undertaken as part of the work to move the river to ‘good ecological potential.”. • Developing a new ‘Replenish’ methodology, which will allow us to quantify the replenish benefits of our habitat improvement work. This work will be led by the Replenish Steering Group in partnership with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and will be piloted on the River Cray. It will deliver a leading edge quantification methodology which has the potential to be adapted for use on other replenish projects globally by the Coca-Cola System. • Influencing the local Water Framework Directive Catchment Plan to achieve the commitments made in the 2011 DEFRA Statement of Position (The Government’s commitment to the successful implementation of the WFD). This will include a specific timetable which details how and when the river will meet ‘Good Ecological Potential’ and an action plan to address key ‘difficult’ or ‘expensive’ issues including unsustainable abstraction and poor water quality due to diffuse pollution. • Employing a part-time River Cray Project Officer who will be responsible for influencing and promoting the catchment plan; managing the on-the-ground river improvements; and building capacity, skills and resources in the local area. This will include promoting the catchment plan to key stakeholders, including businesses, landowners and farmers, who have an impact on the Cray catchment. • Working at a national level to ensure that national policy better protects and restores river catchment across England, and specifically to ensure delivery of the Water Framework Directive and secure new legislation to reform water abstraction licences.