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I was out last night with some lads from a recent Fishery Management course. One of them because of his job was asked to test some silt and water from the river Colne at Watford. He said he would never again allow his dog to enter the river. The river in Watford is completely devoid of all Invertebrate life,River fly tests show up odd shrimp but they must be washing down in the flow from upstream. He was horrified with some of the chemicals and their levels that showed up in the silt. Lots of these were Pop's basically chemicals banned in Europe due to Cancer issues that never break down and just get added to. Now there is a cleanup project Watford in the water being done on the river in Watford. A large number of sewage outflows and car washes including one from a garage run by a major German car company dump straight into the river. All have been reported to the EA and Thames water,nothing seems to get done. The evidence is there but seems to be ignored. The EA stocked the area with barbel what a waste with no food.
 
You know what Mark, if you told me 15 years ago rivers were going to be abused like they are now I would never have believed you. I really can't believe what's happening. The angling trust us toothless to stand up to this which is not they're fault. Wildlife trust just don't get it, why don't they seem to care what goes on under the water?
 
Jason Bean said:
Wildlife trust just don't get it, why don't they seem to care what goes on under the water?
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I think this is in large part because of two factors;
The public at large do not care about out of sight out of mind fish that live in an invisible world (to them at least), in turn its easier to get donations for fluffy mammals and birds.
Secondly I don’t think they believe us, the angling community, some of these organisations don’t view us in a good light. They have bodies like the EA saying all is well, they can see “success” with animals like the Otter and the converse from us just doesn’t hit home.
That’s my opinion anyway.
 
Mark Swaby said:
The river in Watford is completely devoid of all Invertebrate life,River fly tests show up odd shrimp but they must be washing down in the flow from upstream. He was horrified with some of the chemicals and their levels that showed up in the silt. Lots of these were Pop's basically chemicals banned in Europe due to Cancer issues that never break down and just get added to. Now there is a cleanup project Watford in the water being done on the river in Watford. A large number of sewage outflows and car washes including one from a garage run by a major German car company dump straight into the river. All have been reported to the EA and Thames water,nothing seems to get done. The evidence is there but seems to be ignored. The EA stocked the area with barbel what a waste with no food.
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You are quite right Mark there is a big drive by our dedicated and hugely enthusiastic colleagues at the Colne Valley Fisheries Consultative, Sandy’s Watford in the Water project and various agencies and authorities to clean the river up and establish habitats that will increase the fly life. If the new young small barbel can't find food there they will head down towards Ricky and Denham I’m sure. The real benefit of the work carried out by Rod Cutler and his band of fly life counters is that we get a snapshot every month of the health - or otherwise, of the river,. It’s now benchmarked and hopefully in time we will see the improvements in fly life, and especially through the industrial areas of Watford and Oxhey Park.. as the health of the river improves.. and as those responsible for any pollutants are brought to book.
 
Hi Gary, I am one of Rod's Riverfly testers its a fantastic project. One of my test sites is just downstream of where HS2 is due to be going across the Colne the other upstream of it. I chose them to keep an eye on HS2 and to fill in a couple of gaps in the site map. Both of my sites at the moment are very prolific, last week at one site, 2000+ river shrimp, caddis 500+ and olives and mayfly. Its amazing how a river can clean itself in only a few miles. I do not think the information has been shared yet, he had only just got the results. It seems the persistent organic pollutants/forever chemicals in the river bed in Watford will never go away in our lifetime and there will never be any fly life, no matter what is done by Sandy, its that bad. Some of the chemicals have been banned for over 20 years and are still showing in frightening levels. Because of Rod's work we now know the health of the river and maybe the EA should now act to work on the problem areas, I will not hold my breath
 
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Mark Swaby said:
Hi Gary, I am one of Rod's Riverfly testers its a fantastic project. One of my test sites is just downstream of where HS2 is due to be going across the Colne the other upstream of it. I chose them to keep an eye on HS2 and to fill in a couple of gaps in the site map. Both of my sites at the moment are very prolific, last week at one site, 2000+ river shrimp, caddis 500+ and olives and mayfly. Its amazing how a river can clean itself in only a few miles. I do not think the information has been shared yet, he had only just got the results. It seems the persistent organic pollutants/forever chemicals in the river bed in Watford will never go away in our lifetime and there will never be any fly life, no matter what is done by Sandy, its that bad. Some of the chemicals have been banned for over 20 years and are still showing in frightening levels. Because of Rod's work we now know the health of the river and maybe the EA should now act to work on the problem areas, I will not hold my breath
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Very interesting and very sad
 
It was through the Riverfly project these problems were found. I wonder how many other inner city or town stretches of river around the country have the same problems, zero Invertebrate life. It must be one of those reasons that fry survival through Winter in some rivers is almost zero. Being river anglers we care about our local river more than 99% of the population. Riverfly projects are out there and take up a couple of hours a month of your life. Its very worthwhile and every time I test I cannot wait to see what turns up, its not just Invertebrates. Knowledge of problem areas need to be flagged up and the EA informed it does seem to be something they are avoiding.
 
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