The Evenlode

Thu 10 Sep 2020, 19:12

See latest update in the Debate section under CUTE!  Some good news for once...

Tue 25 Aug 2020, 14:47 (last edited on Tue 25 Aug 2020, 14:47)

See summary letter to Robert Courts on the CUTE! thread in Debate....

Thu 20 Aug 2020, 11:36

See latest update on the CUTE! thread in Debate section - and recent links...

Wed 12 Aug 2020, 21:26

See latest update in the Debate section.

Nice idea Philip - it can theoretically be a planning objection (if we're still going to be allowed to object!) but especially with smaller developments - which of course have a cumulative impact - doesn't seem to attract much weight - see Liz's posts.

Sun 9 Aug 2020, 17:37

If the Government in its various guises e.g. Environment Agency, DEFRA, OFWAT, won't take action and nor will Thames Water, then surely WODC could refuse / pause all planning applications that require connection to mains drainage on the grounds of inadequate infrastructure?

That might put the cat among the pigeons for "flagship" projects like the new Garden Village at Eynsham! 

Thu 6 Aug 2020, 13:03

Rod you are right it does raise the hackles of fellow fly fishermen. I don't mind moving to the Debate section. However even for the most reserved and measured the time is fast approaching for some direct action and certainly the setting up of a (another?) water quality monitoring group. In th early 1980s  I annually stocked the river at Fawler with brown trout. At times of low flow the water was crystal clear full of water buttercup and suitable for fly fishing, The Red Spinners club also stocked from Bladon Mill up to Fawler and the river held a reasonable stock of trout and an excellent head of coarse fish.  While we rightly worry about global warming I sense a  lack of awareness of this problem and we need to keep ramming home the message until we get some proper legislation to regulate discharges into "our" river.

Wed 5 Aug 2020, 18:26

See the CUTE! thread in the Debate section for the latest update - and how government intends to reduce its responsibilities still further.

Mon 3 Aug 2020, 22:39

"When I use a word " said Humpty Dumpty [to Alice] "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."

To answer Michele's question about the meaning of "deterioration": I don't know the details of the sampling method referred to. I do know that in the several years I took part in the 'Water Blitz' sampling exercise, concentration of Nitrates and Phosphates in the Evenlode were always at the top of an (admittedly rather coarse) scale. Little wonder they didn't show any 'deterioration' if they were already as bad as they could get.

Mon 3 Aug 2020, 11:46

Unavoidably – and as I expected - this thread is becoming more contentious, if only potentially as we have only heard from ‘the opposition’ vicariously through Liz’s 2 posts!  To save our administrators from too many headaches however I think the time has come to re-launch in the debate section – and under a different heading…  though happy to return to the main forum if they are.

To respond to others, I entirely share Andrew’s sense of frustration with the powers that be. And Michelle, there’s a clue in the sentence that begins: “the EA has not detected a deterioration of the ecology or the water quality of the River Windrush” (my emphasis).  That’s probably because they have neither the resources nor the will (at management level) nor it seems even the obligation to monitor it properly.  They respond – some say reluctantly – to reports of incidents where what is really needed is reform of the regulatory system as a whole.

Enough already – see you on the Dark Side!

Thu 30 Jul 2020, 18:30

Does 'no deterioration' mean that there hasn't been an INCREASE in the amount of sewage in it than last time, which was enough to make people worry?

Thu 30 Jul 2020, 17:28

How very annoying to read this thoughtless missive to WODC  ".........I can confirm, however, that the EA has not detected a deterioration of the ecology or the water quality of the River Windrush.........." good heavens one wonders why the EA exists or what they actually do except shuffle papers - on the face of it it is not protecting our environment - or perhaps it was written by the same person who announced on the 4 March 2020 about the coronavirus pandemic  "the Government does not consider that there is any cause for alarm....."

Tue 28 Jul 2020, 10:34 (last edited on Tue 28 Jul 2020, 10:37)

As a follow up, this is the text of a letter received by WODC from DEFRA yesterday. It is dated July 21st and is a response to the concern expressed by councillors to the problem of sewage discharged into the Windrush (though it could as easily apply to the Evenlode).

"Thank you for your emails of 5 February and 1 May to the Secretary of State about sewage discharge into rivers. I have been asked to reply and I apologise for the delay in responding. Defra is currently dealing with high volumes of correspondence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you for your understanding during this challenging time. The Environment Agency (EA) is aware of the discharges from Thames Water sewage treatment works at Witney. There is an ongoing investigation into this matter and you will appreciate that we are unable to release details of the work at present. I can confirm, however, that the EA has not detected a deterioration of the ecology or the water quality of the River Windrush, and has no evidence to suggest that there is any public health risk. The EA will continue to hold Thames Water to account and has previously undertaken many successful prosecutions against Thames Water."

Only through legislation can we hope for improvement to the quality of the water in our rivers.  Let's hope that the private member's bill that is going through parliament will succeed.

Mon 27 Jul 2020, 09:26 (last edited on Mon 27 Jul 2020, 10:07)

Sadly, Rod, you are absolutely right that we are obliged to build large numbers of new houses that have to be connected to the sewage system, but that there is no obligation on Thames Water to increase capacity. Councillors have been screaming about this for years. New houses put pressure on a system which is already unable to cope.  It is manifestly an issue in Finstock, for example, where there are regular overflows of sewage into the village because the pumping station on Dark Lane is hopelessly inadequate.  But whatever we do to try and get Thames Water to do something about this, it falls on deaf ears. Every year WODC holds a Water Day when they invite Thames Water to come and hear from councillors and local people about the problems that we face but this achieves nothing.  Neither the County nor the District councils have any jurisdiction over the water companies.  They are an entity in their own right.  The problem is that the way that water was privatised means they are completely unaccountable other than to OFWAT, which takes no interest our sewage problems, and even worse, are legally allowed to tip sewage overflows into rivers and pollute them.  This is in theory allowed for overflow caused by storms, but we know that they use this facility much more frequently. The only thing that will improve the situation is root and branch reform to the legal status of these companies.  Thames Water has spent a fortune on replacing sewage systems in London.  But we are at the end of the line as far as they are concerned.  If you think I sound angry and frustrated by this that is because I am, having with Andy spent years trying to change this!

Sun 26 Jul 2020, 12:36

If you were following the earlier posts on this thread you could be forgiven for thinking it’s all gone a bit quiet.  Well not for much longer!

So if you’re interested in / concerned about the state of ‘our river’ and haven’t already, do look at some of the links…

Long post - click to read full text

Fri 3 Jul 2020, 18:57

Well, not the Evenlode, but not far away.

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18554631.mothers-warning-river-hazards-children-cut-feet/

Fri 3 Jul 2020, 18:13 (last edited on Fri 3 Jul 2020, 18:26)

The links are coming in so thick and fast I can’t keep up – but here’s another really interesting one!  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/02/mp-crackdown-raw-sewage-discharges-rivers-philip-dunne-private-members-bill-polluter

The more I delve into this the more it seems there is to delve into – and some of it’s pretty murky (sorry!).  I hope – whoever you might…

Long post - click to read full text

Thu 2 Jul 2020, 13:25

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/01/one-man-fight-bathing-water-status-bath-river-avon-johnny-palmer

Wed 1 Jul 2020, 21:46

Another good initiative which may be helpful, Rod, and others who are keen to get involved: 

https://www.theriverstrust.org/2020/07/01/new-campaign-aims-to-see-bathing-water-standards-introduced-to-uk-rivers/

Wed 1 Jul 2020, 21:30 (last edited on Wed 1 Jul 2020, 21:31)

Thanks Flora, all very useful - though I may need a little help getting my head around some of the EA data! There are many people way ahead of me on all this.  I'm still researching - slowly - but for anyone else who might be interested (and I already know of some), this is a useful place to start, a WWF report from 2017 https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2017-12/Flushed%20Away__Nov2017.pdf   (can also be found via the WASP website). 

Flora's last link may be to the Guardian but that doesn't mean the contents are untrue!  And it's that headline - and what follows - that makes this for me a political issue, in the sense that it will take (more) political action to see progress.  We certainly won't see privatisation reversed under the present government and I'm yet to be convinced that a straight forward re-nationalisation would be the best long-term solution.  But even to see the present regime properly managed and enforced would seem to be a major step forward.  I'm still not sure where I'm going with it all personally yet but please don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to 'register an interest' - or more.

Wed 1 Jul 2020, 19:01 (last edited on Wed 1 Jul 2020, 19:10)

And this...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/01/water-firms-raw-sewage-england-rivers?CMP=share_btn_tw

If you look on the interactive map it says:

Chadlington SW Owned by: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LTD

In 2019, this storm overflow spilled 94 times for a total of 401 hours.

Discharging into a Freshwater river called CHADLINGTON STREAM

I include this because it's upstream I think of us, and you can look at the others at Milton UW and Bledington and Broadwell similarly.

Charlbury SW Owned by: THAMES WATER UTILITIES LTD

In 2019, this storm overflow spilled 40 times for a total of 154 hours.

Discharging into a Freshwater river called Evenlode

Tue 30 Jun 2020, 18:38

https://severnriverstrust.com

were co-ordinating river fly monitoring including in this area, might be worth contacting them to find latest information ?

Tue 30 Jun 2020, 17:53

This link also might be interesting Rod ?

https://environment.data.gov.uk/water-quality/view/sampling-point/TH-PEVE0004?_all=true

Apart from chemical samples above, someone (voluntary) will I think be taking counts of insect life etc. and putting them on a central data system ? Certainly that was the case some years ago.

Ultimately our environmental bodies are not at their strongest at the moment are they certainly where enforcement is concerned, and investment into infrastructure is not a priority for water corporations. Yes it's across the country. Sorry state of affairs. 

https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/uk-rivers-pollution-wild-swimming-environment-agency-322083

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pollution-no-river-in-england-is-safe-for-swimming-q8thdx678

In the current climate it has to be driven by local community...regular sampling is the thing so there is evidence - which is what WASP has been doing and political pressure at different levels. 

Hope I've added something useful. 

Wed 24 Jun 2020, 10:22

I am not a regular participant in the forum I am afraid so had missed Rod's postings and the responses until now, but having been alerted to it, I just want to chip in something about the Evenlode Catchment Partnership in response. 

As Rod noted the ECP is hosted by…

Long post - click to read full text

Tue 23 Jun 2020, 15:38 (last edited on Tue 23 Jun 2020, 15:41)

The Observer this week carried a feature on the effects of the run-off Glena mentions.  Sad that a production method generally favoured for other reasons is having such an impact, surely not beyond the wit of someone to find a solution.  Just don't get me started on salmon farming!

I'm slowly finding out more locally.  Judging by its website, the Cotswolds Rivers Trust appears to have gone to sleep in 2016.  Anyone know different?

Mon 22 Jun 2020, 11:45

The last newsletter I have received from CPRE said that the Wye is suffering very badly from the run off from free range poultry farms which greatly increased near the river.

Thu 18 Jun 2020, 23:35 (last edited on Thu 18 Jun 2020, 23:43)

Thanks for all your responses.  I posted in the early days of the thread Hannen mentions but somehow missed the later posts – still recovering from Wilderness perhaps!

As a life-long fisherperson I've been aware of the wider problems for a while if yet to understand them fully – and…

Long post - click to read full text

Wed 17 Jun 2020, 11:39

There were some very interesting contributions on this topic last year.  See:

https://www.charlbury.info/forum/6232#35242

Wed 17 Jun 2020, 11:26

I was interested to see this morning that, although the river is very murky the millstream joining it, just past the mill field, is very clear.

Wed 17 Jun 2020, 10:52

Rod - some thoughts from my husband - based on his life long experience of fishing and love of the countryside. 

When we moved to Charlbury 42 years ago the Evenlode was clear, free flowing and had plenty of weed to support insect life. 

In the last 10-15 years it has become a muddy, slow flowing river with a lack of weed. 

There are a number of possible causes: 

1 The arrival of the invasive American cray fish whose numbers have exploded and its abnormal activity  causing bank erosion and a stirring up of the river bed have affected clarity. This will have affected the gravel bed - the true sign of a clean river where insects lay eggs, and a new generation is born.

2 The lack of flow of water could be in part due to water extraction higher up the river, and also a change in weather patterns.

3 Pollution is also an increasing concern - caused by human waste and agricultural waste. 

The increase in house building has resulted in an increased need for waste disposal but it appears that the water companies have not invested sufficiently in infrastructure required for the safe disposal of human waste. 

And the water companies are now self regulating.   

The Windrush is also suffering and those fishing it in the Witney area have now  been advised not to eat any fish they catch. 

Modern farming methods may also be contributing to pollution - with run off of chemicals and pesticides and organic matter, particularly from the larger farming units. This can lead to excessive algae growth which is proving catastrophic for fish. 

The River Wye, one of the premier salmon fishing rivers in the country, is also suffering badly. It is happening everywhere.    

Wed 17 Jun 2020, 10:42

The Evenlode has got much more cloudy in recent years, and I was told that this is due to the invasive signal crayfish, originally from America. It is a bottom feeder and stirs up the silt on the river bottom. It is a pest, and it is rapidly replacing our native crayfish.

Wed 17 Jun 2020, 09:42

I guess I'd talk to WASP...

Tue 16 Jun 2020, 14:39

Someone recently said to me that the Evenlode has always been a muddy stream.  Not surprising given its geology but back in April it was running clearer than it is now, with noticeably more weed growth than in recent years.  Now with much lower flows, it's about as murky as it gets!  This suggests that whatever it is that causes its turbidity has become either just more concentrated and/or there's more of it.  Am going to enquire elsewhere as well but anyone able to shed any light on this?