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Panarama/ Drinking our rivers dry

Craig Wood

Craig Wood

Senior Member
Thought this would be of interest to everyone on here..BBC1 8.30pm tomorrow night..How demands for water is affecting the nations rivers and the wildlife it supports..Should be interesting.
 
Cheers Craig but I think it has been replaced with a programme on "The August Riots"

I might be wrong though, Sky (whose guide I just checked) aren't the most reliable supplier of accurate info.....
 
Colin Gordon said:
Cheers Craig but I think it has been replaced with a programme on "The August Riots"

I might be wrong though, Sky (whose guide I just checked) aren't the most reliable supplier of accurate info.....
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freeview says it's been replaced, next week maybe.
 
As I have long said, our lifestyles have drained them dry. Sad thing is, though, when we have been forced to use a half or a quarter of the water that we are currently using, the private water firms will hike the price of water five-fold or more, just as the other "... make them pay through the nose for what little they're using now ... must keep the shareholders sweet ... keep paying our 'hard-working' execs more than just a pretty penny..." private gas and electricity utilities have done.
 
Paul Boote said:
As I have long said, our lifestyles have drained them dry. Sad thing is, though, when we have been forced to use a half or a quarter of the water that we are currently using, the private water firms will hike the price of water five-fold or more, just as the other "... make them pay through the nose for what little they're using now ... must keep the shareholders sweet ... keep paying our 'hard-working' execs more than just a pretty penny..." private gas and electricity utilities have done.
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for once, i agree, worst thing that happened.
 
Contact Panarama

Panarama are now showing this program in early September..I have had a email off their production team they are very keen to know about ALL problems that affecting our Rivers..If you have concerns or any proof of Pollution or Severe water loss and fish populations dissapearing from your local river which you think may have something to do with the water authorities then you can contact the Panarama team via the BBC1 website..
 
The Chiltern rivers - Chess, Misbourne, Mimram, Beane etc - boys should get in contact with Panorama, as they're classic examples of rivers destroyed by development and the demands of the golfcourse, manicured lawn, swimming pool, car wash and three showers a day, fragrant, manicured people with lifestyles. This film (I apologize in advance to The Chairman) - http://youtu.be/HO13fPxOGbQ - is a bit Chalky 'n' Spotty-centric, bank-funded (and probably with an upmarket estate and sporting agent or two quietly waiting to collect in the wings), but an interesting few minutes.
 
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I rather hope the programme will deal with the "Nations" rivers, rather than just the chalk streams.

Obviously the problems facing the southern parts of England and the over development down there is important, however for the rest of the nation that doesn't have chalk streams (or for that matter too many "fragrant manicured people with lifestyles" our rivers also face serious threats from the agricultural practises including over abstraction that support the policy of cheap food and the profit levels of supermarkets rather than farmers. As well as the various "green" hydro power companies with public subsides who wish to put turbines on every weir.

The usual solutions offered by those down south who wish to protect their chalk streams (and advocated recently by the London Mayor himself) is to further destroy our remaining rivers by piping water to the southern conurbations. The rain feed rivers of the Midlands, Wales, Northern England and Scotland may not have the uniqueness of the chalk streams or quite the support amongst the rich and mighty that southern chalk streams have, but they are just as important and deserve protection. The problems they face are very different, but as dangerous.
 
Paul Boote said:
The Chiltern rivers - Chess, Misbourne, Mimram, Beane etc - boys should get in contact with Panorama, as they're classic examples of rivers destroyed by development and the demands of the golfcourse, manicured lawn, swimming pool, car wash and three showers a day, fragrant, manicured people with lifestyles. This film (I apologize in advance to The Chairman) - http://youtu.be/HO13fPxOGbQ - is a bit Chalky 'n' Spotty-centric, bank-funded (and probably with an upmarket estate and sporting agent or two quietly waiting to collect in the wings), but an interesting few minutes.
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my local misbourne action group has reported white claw crayfish and wild brown trout just a few miles west of me.
 
Of course Pete you are right, its not the answer to start taking water from other rivers..The Dorset Stour is incredibly low at the moment which is causing extreme weed growth, despite this there are pumps along some stretches still pumping water out which is not even for watering farmers crops, its about time this was stopped when the river is in such a low state..
 
Any idea on why they are pumping water out, when it is not for crops. I know that golf courses do it if they have an EA consent and license, but these can be revoked if a complaint is made in low flow situations.
The programme, i think, should be on tomorrow Monday so this will be interesting!
Just wonder if there will be any info as to UK(foreign owned) water companies, siphoning off our british rivers underhand or legally and selling the water to the middle east for irrigation or other purposes, as they do in some other countries.
 
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On the Severn catchment all modern consents for abstraction are time limited, that is they can be revoked at the end of specific periods and only apply when flows are sufficient, usually the winter months) Farmers are encouraged to build storage pools for summer water use.. The old consents that go with property rights are not limited in this way. These cause problems as they cannot be revoked only purchased. When the EA purchased a couple to bring them to an end a few years back the outrage from local politicians of this "abuse" of taxpayers money brought that to an end.
The only way of ending these "ancient" rights would be buy outs in the same way that buy outs of Salmon netting rights were organised and paid for by anglers.

The new time limited consents have, as well as agriculture, been granted for caravan and camping sites which have proliferated along the Severn itself (often used by anglers of course), but fortunately have been prevent from spreading up the tributary rivers that are not dam controlled. There is constant pressure from many locals of course to liberalise the present regime.

Planning applications for new builds in the Severn catchment are required to demonstrate where the water will come from and that this should not be by river abstraction. This has put paid to a lot of planning applications much to the disgust of many local people who stood to profit.

The present system in the Severn (and I think elsewhere in England) comes to an end in 2012. Whatever new system replaces it will have to have the water framework directive in mind, however if you watch the arguments of European legislation in the press, you will see that the idea of ignoring this legislation grows stronger by the day and is particularly supported by the most influential parts of the media the Daily Mail and Murdoch's papers.

I recently posted the Teme abstraction plan in the Teme thread, for those interested in can be found here. You should be able to get a copy of your local rivers plan from the EA site.

I know that Ray and others will disagree, but again my own experience is that within the limits of the law and the rules outlined in the abstraction plans our local EA officers are very keen to enforce this and if abstraction outside of the plan is carried out they will and have prosecuted, however they cannot stop abstraction from those with a legal right to do this; after all this is the UK, not Iran, the old Soviet Union or France no matter how much some would like it to be otherwise and the state cannot just remove peoples rights to water without legal process.
 
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