Project Introduction
‘Nature-based solutions’ (NbS) is a term used to describe the use of natural systems to address problems for the benefit of the environment and wider society.
In terms of rivers, NbS can include creating wetlands to improve water quality or improving soil health to reduce the risk of extreme high and low flows, for example.
Up to now, the use of NbS has been relatively limited. ‘Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions’ (MNbS) is a programme funded by the Ofwat Innovation Fund. It is designed to embed the use of NbS for rivers as standard practice.
Afonydd Cymru’s role
Within the programme, Afonydd Cymru is representing Wales as one of eight regional test areas across the UK. Our role is to examine any proposed solutions in the real world to see which work best and where. The programme’s objective is to enable NbS to be used extensively in the future to resolve problems for rivers.
As part of this programme, we are working with Natural Resources Wales, Welsh Government, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water to build the evidence base needed to ensure NbS become standard practice in the water industry.
The programme runs until September 2028 with Phase 2 (real-life testing of actionable recommendations from Phase 1) starting in Autumn 2025.
Project latest
March 2026
We are currently reviewing Welsh Water’s Storm Overflow (SO) priority catchments. We want to know how landscape-scale NbS projects can be developed in a few of these that meet Welsh Water’s regulatory requirements while also delivering wider benefits for river health, flood resilience, sustainable agriculture, and local communities.
We will be working closely with the regional trusts to help shape and build these future delivery packages.
Our objective is also to form a pilot project that can help test and inform the emerging Water sector reform that could be replicated and scaled up across Wales.
Alongside this, we are liaising with the newly formed group of Sustainable Drainage Approving Bodies (SABs) to see what challenges and opportunities face Local Authorities in co-delivering NbS for surface water management.
This month, we are expecting Natural Resources Wales to publish a position statement on Nature-based Solutions, alongside a new risk-based permitting framework. This should help address some of the current regulatory barriers to delivering NbS projects at scale.