Branston praised for its sustainable water management

One of the UK’s leading potato suppliers, Branston Ltd has been praised for its excellent water management by a group of sustainability experts who visited from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

Branston installed a £1-million water recycling plant at its site at Seavington, near Ilminster, over the summer, which is reducing its mains water usage by thousands of litres a day.

The group of experts, from the project Water Adaptation is Valuable for Everybody known as WAVE, visited Branston to see examples of best practice. The trip was arranged by Somerset County Council.

Branston general manager, Ian Wait, said: “Branston received £55,000 in funding from WAVE, a partnership project supported by Somerset County Council and the UK Farming and Advisory Group. The money was invested in the £1-million water recycling plant.

“The group of 30 WAVE delegates travelled across Europe because they wanted to see how the money had been spent and what positive results it is producing.

“They were extremely pleased with what they saw and were impressed that we are now reducing the site’s effluent discharge by at least 80%. As well as this, the plant has a specialised chilling system which keeps the water at 8 to 10 degrees Celsius which is the ideal temperature for washing potatoes.”