The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) partnerships were brought in by Defra in 2011 to help achieve the Water Framework Directive initiatives. 

These partnerships bring together a wide range of local organisations (including NGOs, water companies, local authorities, landowners, angling clubs, farming groups, academia, and local businesses) to promote collaborative working at a river catchment scale to realise environmental, social, and economic benefits.

CaBA partnerships aim to drive cost-effective delivery on the ground; resulting in multiple benefits including improvements to water quality, enhanced biodiversity, reduced flood risk, resilience to climate change, and greater community engagement with their local river.

Stakeholder engagement is essential for the implementation of a catchment management strategy and we see the CaBA partnerships as key in aiding the delivery of our strategy. Over 36,000 people nationwide are engaged with CaBA partnerships, forming over 100 CaBA partnerships across England and Wales - 14 of which sit in the Severn Trent region.

The core of each partnership in the made up of a host, Environment Agency Catchment Coordinator, and representatives from local River and Wildlife Trusts. The majority of the CaBA partnerships in our region are hosted by the local River or Wildlife Trusts.

However, Severn Trent have the responsibility of sole hosting the Tame, Anker and Mease (TAM) CaBA group, this makes us one of the only water companies to sole host a CaBA partnership.

To find out more about the CaBA partnerships visit the official CaBA website.