OBITUARY

Dr Geoff Mance

On Saturday, 2 November 2002, Dr Geoff Mance, a much-loved husband, father, friend and environmental leader, passed away after a long illness.

Geoff started his career in 1975 after receiving a Doctorate in Limnology from Bristol University. After spending nine years at the Water Research Centre, he joined Severn Trent Water Authority and played a major role in applying the dormant Control of Pollution Act which had been passed in 1974.

It was his commitment to stewardship of the environment which resulted in him being appointed to the Regional General Manager‘s post for the Severn Trent region of the newly formed National Rivers Authority in 1989. Again he had been one of the key architects of the policies that set the agenda for the NRA and he had an opportunity to apply his policies in practice.

His success in making the transition from policy to practice resulted in his appointment as Director of Water Management of the Environment Agency in August 1996. Water management is the biggest single activity in the EA and he led the development of strategies and policies with his customary gusto and wisdom through the water- industry price review, floods and droughts.

Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Agency wrote: ‘As Director of Water Management at the Agency from 1996 he probably contributed more than any other single person to the success story of the clean-up of British rivers and beaches, the return of salmon and otters to stretches where they had not been seen for more than a hundredyears, and to the enjoyment of our rivers and the sea by thousands of boaters, fishermen, swimmers and surfers. His quiet advocacy and campaigning skills were central to persuading the new Labour Government to agree to the biggest ever - €8billion - programme water-company investment in environmental improvement, and many of the initiatives which followed the ‘Water Summit ‘ in May 1997 had been championed by Geoff

He also helped Britain through one of the most prolonged and severe droughts of recent years in the mid-l990s, using intense media interest in standpipe queues and non-showering water-company chairmen to drive home the message of efficient water management of supp& and demand .That Britain has strategies for long-term water security is due to Geoff.. . . . .. After the terrible fluod events of 1998, Geoff reshaped f~ood-defence services to focus not just on building up protection but also on informing and educating the public about flood risk and how to prepare for it. Geoff‘s leadership meant that in the catastrophic Autumn of 2000, although 10 000 homes and properties flooded, about 1.8 million across the English and Welsh floodplains did not and there was no loss of life. ’

Geoff was a great communicator and always believed in the strength of people power in delivering the Vision for the Environment. He was a highly respected professional person and a great champion of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, of which he was President in 1999-2000. He was at the heart of our A h e for Change agenda and began the process which led to the dialogue we now enjoy with other environmental institutions and learned societies. He was always supportive of the team at John Street who always enjoyed his energy and enthusiasm .

He retired only a t the end of October 2002, and many of his colleagues were able to express their pleasure at having worked with him over the years. Many people in the Environment Agency commented affectionately at his retirement - ‘he gave me my first leg up the ladder’.

Described by colleagues as a modernising environmentalist, his career spanned the period of emerging consciousness of environmental impact and sustainable development. He was at home with both sides of the environmental debate - Friends of the Earth on the one hand, and the CBI industrial and water-company leaders on the other.

But his passion was founded in his home where he shared his life with three companions - Elizabeth his wife, and Victoria and Charlotte his daughters. We will all miss Geoff but not so much as his family, to whom we extend our sympathy and our gratitude for Geoff’s life. We will all learn from what Geoff did, and what he helped to create will outlast us all.

Peter Matthews

THE JOURNAL V 1 7 N1 I M A A C H 2003 65