Bob Harris ‘This is the last Demonstration Test Catchment (DTC) newsletter that I shall be putting together, the task passing to the Wensum DTC Consortium for 2016 (contact: Andrew Lovett). I’ve really enjoyed my 6+ years working with Defra, the DTC Consortia and the wider related research and stakeholder groups. The early days were exciting with the emergence of new political will to develop ‘catchment thinking’ and address the challenges of more integrated or holistic approaches to scientific research and environmental management. However, the supported concept of a long-term research platform to build knowledge and test practical measures in a robust scientific way was always going to be challenging, and so it’s turned out, compounded now by these recent times of economic constraint. Unfortunately as we learn more about the complexities of undertaking research at the catchment scale (especially the challenges of scaling up from plot, field and farm where the experiments inevitably have to be undertaken, to whole catchments and landscapes) the more we realise that the answers to both policy and operational questions cannot be answered quickly.

Storm Desmond has also recently demonstrated that the longer- and shorter-term climatic changes, be they induced (climate change related) or natural (El Nino and N Atlantic Oscillation related), may well swamp the relatively small water quality changes in our rivers and groundwater that farm-scale measures can bring. So, many uncertainties remain not the least the feeling that small-scale on-farm measures will be insufficient to address the challenges facing water quality and the subsequent stresses on freshwater ecosystems – we may not be able ‘to have our cake and eat it too’ through a continuation of with a modified business-as-usual approach. Larger land use change may be necessary to halt the decline in our freshwater biodiversity… If this is a priority of society. Whatever the approach and the solutions we need to have the research capability to investigate the questions posed whether by policy-makers, catchment-managers or land managers. Without knowledge, and the ability to use it intelligently in more integrated ways, we will continue to fumble in the dark!