Brennand and Whitendale Focus Group's John Wells said the programme would help solve "environmental problems caused by unsustainable abstraction, protecting water levels and improving habitats".
The likely impact includes forest conversion to agricultural land, a drop in biological diversity as a result of monocropping and the massive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, unsustainable levels of water abstraction and a greater risk of water-related conflicts with local communities and neighbouring States sharing the same transboundary river systems.