The Wye and Usk Foundation (WUF) has been working with farmers and landowners to understand why floods are getting worse. After developing this project for the last year, we now understand what needs to happen to deal with more extreme rainfall and the devastating and costly impacts of flooding. Many upstream land managers are already experiencing the impacts first-hand, including heavier rainfall, faster run-off, soil loss, damaged tracks, and increased pressure on farm operations.
Our work will concentrate on the upland areas of the catchment (watershed) which receive the most rain, where slowing and storing water flows can reduce the height of flood peaks. Managing water higher in the catchment can help reduce flood risk downstream while also delivering practical benefits on farms.
The Resilient Rivers Monnow Feasibility Stage started in January 2026 and WUF advisors have been out meeting farmers and landowners and refining our expert hydrological study. We are working on the structures and processes that will be needed to set up and run the market and confirming costs.
The current Feasibility Stage will run until June ‘26 and has been jointly funded by Natural Resources Wales and Monmouthshire Council.
Our aim is to bring a wider consortium of funders together to share the costs of delivering flood risk reduction starting at the end of 2026.
We still need to secure funding for the important next stages:
Implementation Stage (Jun 26-Oct 26): contracting farmers and landowners, securing long term funding and setting up the Not for Profit organisation which will run the market
Operational Stage (Oct 26 for an initial 5 years): delivering flood risk reduction and other benefits
Farmers and landowner flood risk reduction actions will deliver other benefits: water quality improvements, biodiversity gain and carbon storage, and support our upland communities. Working with natural systems delivers lots of winners!
Donations can be made here
Any donations to this campaign will be used to support our groundbreaking work in the Monnow catchment.
The Wye and Usk Foundation is a registered charity (no. 1080319) and part of the wider Rivers Trust movement. We do not receive any central funding for our activities and rely on donations and project funding to continue our work.
