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The health of our rivers - or not!

Roger Carswell

Roger Carswell

Senior Member
A new report states that just 17% of our rivers are judged to be in good health.

The EA have previously given the impression that the quality of our waterways was rapidly improving. We anglers have suspected for some time now that the wool has been pulled over our eyes and that it has not been in the EA's interests give give us the full story.

For further information go to River health revealed in 'shocking' figures - BBC News
 
Very sad Roger that we have been seeing this first, and yet were not heard. And now it takes a European standard to tell us (England) what we should have been dealing with. There are so many contributing factors to the poor health of our rivers, hopefully they can start to be properly addressed. :(
 
Pretty damming....not sure if the old levels were to be used whether it would be as bad or not. The standards have been tightened so not comparing like with like.
 
Is there any rulings on fertiliser type and use close to rivers? I'm sure there must be. Late Feb early March there is a lot going into the arable fields, spraying tractor in the field I was in in March; and then those fields to get a load of rain or flood?
 
Yes...... Buffer zones and Leraps are in place along water courses....... Now whether these are adhered too is another thing.
 
And say… if it is not being adhered to, us anglers might be the only ones that notice it happening. Then I can see a problem with a stand off with farmers (who often have a big say in the river access etc) and Anglers. 'It's tough enough as it is to make a living out of arable crops without being told off/fined for spraying stuff too close to the river' sort of thinking…

Doomed we're all doomed!
 
Don't get me wrong.... the rules are followed by most.... but as with anything some will do what they have always done.
 
Wasn't there some crazy scheme of paying farmers to utilise as much land as possible by ripping out tree lined banks and planting right up to the river? Sure I read that as one of the reasons flooding has got so bad due to this being practice on river uplands.
 
No Rhys.... Things have never got as far as that. Environmental schemes encourage the exact opposite now and legislation has added come sense too.
 
Nick / Rhys and co

If I get time later in the week I'll pen a summary of all of current rules and regulations pertaining to the use of fertilisers, pesticides in agriculture, the rules governing management of soils and the grant schemes landowners can tap into to bring about improvements. It's what I do for a living.

Cheers,

Joe
 
We actually have the opposite problem, rivers these days are way too clean. Years back the upper reaches of rivers only supported trout, sticklebacks, bullheads, etc due to the cleanliness and lack of nutrients. European regulations with regards water quality have cleaned lower reaches way too much, lack of nutrients and coarse fish stocks are struggling, we need our 60s/70s dirty rivers back!!!
 
Actually Crooky, I wouldn't disagree with you regards nutrients etc.

However we didn't have the level of hormones in the water back then.

When did the pill, preventing conception come into the rivers.? 60's?


Graham
 
Re the dirty rivers, back in the 80's one of the most reliable places to get livebaits in the winter, that I knew of, was where the outfall from a sewage farm went into the GUC running pound, just upstream from the fisheries pub. It was known as the grooves.
The rubbish that came down was disgusting, condoms galore and the rod rings getting clogged with bits of toilet paper and other matter. You nevertheless needed to get there very early it was so popular.
Slightly more pleasant was the Gade at Croxley moor in the 70's, there was a paper mill on the island between the lock and the river and it used the river water to cool the machinery, in the winter there would be a cloud of steam above the river and it felt like bathwater. The colour of the river varied from day to day depending on what had been printed, one day blue another green or grey.
Used to catch big roach after dark and they were without doubt the hardest fighting Roach I've ever caught, usually making the old Mitchell clutch scream as they made long runs across and downstream.
The mills long gone and the roach have been harvested by the EE's mostly, on the positive side there are now some Barbel there but very little else.
 
Paul. Remember it very well. Fished it loads of times circa '65

Caught roach on silkweed from the weir. Superb perch from the river on minnow from the canal overflow.

Actually one of the few places that I saw stone and striped loach.

Remember the log across the river half way between main weir and bridge.

Chub also.

We used to wak from there to hemp bridge at Ricki.

However, the river was mainly pink!!!!! Like candyfloss.

Happy carefree days as long as you managed to stop the bike at the bottom of the hill.

Graham
 
Yes, that hill would eat brake blocks, I first went there in my 1172 cc side valve engined 3 speed Ford popular though. Wasn't Rickmansworth a wonderful place back then?
 
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