recharging kent

CHALK LANDSCAPE & AQUIFER RECHARGE PROJECT

PROJECT OVERVIEW

SCALE: 48,411 ha

LOCATION: North Kent Downs

CORRIDOR ROLE: Hidden below ground, many people are unaware that much of North Kent is almost entirely dependent on the chalk aquifer for our drinking water, with very little reservoir storage to fall back on.

That makes natural aquifer recharge and protecting it from nitrate and other pollution not just an environmental concern but a direct matter of public water security.

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CORE INTERVENTIONS

  • Species-rich and chalk grassland restoration

  • Headwater protection and chalk stream restoration

  • Agricultural buffers and interceptor woodlands for nitrate runoff

  • Infiltration and recharge measures - scrape, pond, wet grassland, reed bed and wetland creation

  • Soil organic-matter and structure improvement on arable fields

ECOSYSTEMS SERVICES & BENEFITS

  • Aquifer recharge and drinking water resilience

  • Reduced nutrient and sediment runoff into drinking water supply

  • Damp habitats act as firebreaks to mitigate climate extremes

  • Carbon sequestration through soil health improvement

  • Enhanced pollinator services

  • Recovery of threatened habitats and species

INVESTMENT OUTCOMES

  • Corporate Sponsorship for the SSSI and high-distinctiveness chalk grassland core

  • Species-rich grassland, wetland and chalk stream restoration generates BNG units

  • Verified carbon removals for meeting offsetting commitments

  • Risk management: increased resilience to wildfires

  • Water quality improvement and water supply resilience

    • Water infrastructure savings for utilities providers

    • Voluntary ‘water stewardship’ credits

  • Food security supported by pollination services and healthy soils

NATURAL CAPITAL ESTIMATES

  • CHALK GRASSLAND

    Acre for acre this habitat is richer in species than a rainforest, it ranks among the most biodiverse habitats globally.

    Healthy chalk grassland supports up to 40 plant species per square metre, including rare orchids.

    Barely 40,000 hectares remain across the UK, and Kent contains just 1,900 hectares (2.5%) of the world's remaining chalk grassland.

  • maidstone mining bee

    For nearly ninety years the Maidstone bee was thought lost to Britain, it was last recorded in 1934. Then in 2020 it reappeared at Trosley, on the slopes of the North Kent Downs.

    Its foothold here hangs by a thread, and on the kind of grazed, open chalk grassland that we are working to restore.

  • CHALK STREAMS

    One of the rarest freshwater habitats on Earth - fewer than 300 exist worldwide, and England holds around 85% of them.

    Fed not by rainfall but by water rising from the chalk aquifer, they run clear, mineral-rich and at a near-constant temperature all year - conditions found almost nowhere else, and shaped by the same chalk geology beneath the North Kent Downs.

    Yet most of England's chalk streams are in poor health, with only around 17% meeting 'good ecological status' - over-abstraction and pollution being the greatest threats to their survival.

  • TURTLE DOVE

    One of the UK's fastest-declining birds, with a 99% UK decline since the late 1960s.

    The turtle dove depends on the seeds, scrub and margins this landscape provides.

    Every spring the turtle dove returns to North Kent, having flown some 5,000 kilometres from sub-Saharan West Africa.

  • chalk butterflies

    Chalk grassland is one of Europe’s most threatened habitats, yet over 50% of the UK’s butterfly species inhabit chalk grasslands, including the rare Duke of Burgundy, Adonis blue and Chalkhill Blue butterflies.

  • chalk stream species

    Chalk streams support species found in few other places, including white-clawed crayfish, wild brown trout, water voles and upwinged mayflies, and are considered an irreplaceable habitat.

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