ABOUT
Background
Formed in 1996 in response to drought restrictions, it has developed a “working with” approach with the local EA office. Now representing 102 members with 223 abstraction licenses, which provide 16,724,000 m³ annual licensed abstraction volume, representing 91% of the agricultural volume abstracted from the catchment.
How we operate
ESWAG is a “not for profit” company operating as a limited company. It has a board of directors led by Doug Inglis and is managed on a day to day business by group manager, John Patrick. The board has a steering committee made up of 8 members, who meet quarterly.
Funding
Each member pays an annual subscription, proportional to their abstraction volume. This provides funds to run the day-to-day business and accumulate strategic reserves for major projects in the future.
Where and What We Do
Our members abstract water under licence from the Environment Agency from both groundwater sources and surface water sources (rivers) or a combination of both. Some licences are for spray irrigation direct and others can be for storage ie reservoirs.
Surface water sources include the Rivers Blyth, Ore, Alde, Deben, Orwell & Gipping and their tributaries. Groundwater sources include crag and chalk aquifers.
People
Chairman
Doug Inglis
Group Manager
John Patrick
Group Administrator
Sara Benstead
Committee
James Foskett
Bruce Kerr
Nat Bacon
Andrew Greenwell
Micheal Horton
Geoff Mayhew
Tim Pratt
