The Evenlode

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 local knowledge always useful.  Am still researching via https://www.windrushwasp.org/ and https://www.wildoxfordshire.org.uk/biodiversity/river-catchments/evenlode-catchment/ in particular, any other sources gladly received.

Just a couple of comments for now.  The mill stream is clearer now than it was even 2 or 3 weeks ago, I suspect because with the sluice gate down, it’s barely moving so the silt/particles have probably settled on the bottom.  The crayfish certainly do damage and must affect fish nos as they often have small ones in their claws when caught (I have a licence!) – but little doubt all the things Janet mentions contribute greatly and collectively to the problems.  I’ve still a lot to learn but the worst of them so far appears to be sewage waste followed by agricultural and other run-offs – though am not yet sure how you distinguish.

As others have pointed out, the whole structure of the water industry seems to me to be skewed, not least as Janet mentions that the water companies are effectively self-regulating (over their sewage discharges), not to mention that their main motivation of course is to secure a profit for their investors, not to look after the environment in which they make those profits.  I don’t want this to be cast into the Outer Darkness of the Debate section (not the first time I've said that!), at least not yet, so I won’t go further on that for now.

I’ll probably post again ‘in due course’ – I may live to regret this but it occurs to me we (who??) might set up a companion organisation to WASP – perhaps call it Clean Up The Evenlode?!