It’s a frosty January morning and the quad bike rumbles as we descend the farm track towards the river below. We’re 10 miles west of Scarborough, deep in the North York Moors National Park, an upland landscape dominated by open moorland and enclosed forestry which dramatically gives way to isolated farms, peppered with sheep and cattle.

With help from the farmer, we unload the circular cattle drinking trough and a solar powered water pump next to the River Derwent. Our job over the next hour is to install this innovative piece of equipment, providing the next phase of the work with the farm to improve water quality on the meandering river below.

It’s a stark fact that our rivers are in a state of emergency. Only 14% of English rivers are classified as meeting good ecological status, and without increased efforts to tackle water quality it is predicted this figure will drop to 7% of rivers by 2027. Pollution is a major factor in driving this decline. Increased media attention is shining a spotlight on sources of pollution, whether that be from raw sewage discharges by water companies directly into rivers, chemical discharges from industry or agricultural run-off from farmland. It is clear increased action needs to be taken, but untangling some of these issues is complicated and is unfortunately moving at a slower pace than is needed. However, there are on the ground improvements which can make an immediate difference. By working with famers, the Derwent Upland Streams Project is taking various actions to improve water quality at a local level across rivers in Northeast Yorkshire.

The recently-installed fence line restricts cattle access to the river, preventing them from grouping together at pinch points to drink and eroding the riverbanks, regularly releasing soil and other organic pollutants into the river. The input of excess soil into the river is bad for water quality and bad for wildlife.

A small but important ‘buffer strip’ between the fence and river captures fine sediment which is washed off the surface of the field in heavy rainfall, preventing it from reaching the river channel, and creates new habitat for local wildlife.

The installation of a solar-operated drinking trough, which uses technology to fill the trough to a set volume without the need for human intervention, also means that when the cattle return in the spring, they will now use this as their main drinking source, leaving the river and its banks to restore and regenerate over the years ahead.

The team returned this month to plant 85 native trees within the new buffer strip, between the fence line and the river in areas where the riverbank is eroding fastest. As the trees grow, their roots will bind the soil and prevent excessive bank erosion and collapse; another way we can keep soil out of the river and improve water quality. They will also capture carbon and provide new habitat for wildlife. Other areas of the buffer strip will regenerate naturally.

Already pockets of bright yellow flowered common gorse are glistening in the sun. I feel confident that over the coming years these scrubby bushes, loved by an array of pollinators, and our newly planted trees, will reclaim the buffer strip and the riverbank for themselves. The combination of natural and man-made interventions at this farm will provide a lasting benefit to water quality and the river ecosystem in the years ahead.

The Derwent Upland Streams Project is funded by the Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund. It funds capital works which can improve farm infrastructure and water quality. It is important that interventions are co-designed with land managers, using local skills and knowledge to deliver shared benefits. By replicating this approach elsewhere, we can have an immediate and accumulative positive impact on water quality and go some way to influencing the restoration of our rivers.