Every river in England is polluted... it’s outrageous
TEENAGE kicks may be something of a distant memory for former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey.
Now he’s 63 and gets his sexagene-rian kicks through a pastime he began during his schooldays in Northern Ireland – angling.
Feargal is a keen fly fisherman and, better still, chairman of the oldest fishing club in England still working the same waters.
And what a place Amwell Magna is. This stretch of the River Lea near Hertford has brown trout and water voles, as well as the delightful Cetti’s warblers rattling out their noisy song in the undergrowth.
The club is celebrating its 180th year of caring for a river once fished by the sport’s godfather, Izaak Walton. His book, The Compleat Angler, is still regarded as a classic nearly 370 years on.
This is no ordinary river – it is a chalk stream. And Britain is blessed with virtually all the world’s 200-plus chalk streams.
They are icons of the natural world. Rainwater takes up to eight weeks to filter through the chalk before emerging clear and pure into the stream and over gravel beds where the female trout lay their eggs.
But all is far from well. Every single chalk stream – a resource we should be proud of – has been ruined by sewage, farm pollution or over-abstraction by the water industry.
Feargal said: “We have been lecturing the world about cutting down the Amazon and clearing rainforests for palm oil plantations, yet we have 85 per cent of the world’s 200-plus chalk streams – one of the rarest river habitats in the world – and not one of them is in a healthy condition. “How hypocritical is that?”
On the day I visited, the Lea was murky where it should have been crystal clear. The trout and the water voles were still there, but it felt as if they were there under protest.
Feargal said: “The water should be crystal clear like a glass of gin but it is cloudy.We want to find out what has put this colour into the river.
“Every single river in England is polluted. It is outrageous.
“This is all to facilitate profits for water companies. The regulatory system is impotent. In my opinion the water industry thinks it is cheaper to pay the fines than to spend money fixing the problem.”
The most recent Environment Agency (EA) data revealed that not one river, lake or stream in England passed chemical pollution tests.
Just 16 per cent were classed as in good ecological health. In Wales, 56 per cent of rivers fail to meet “good ecological status”.
More EA analysis shows that last year sewage was pumped or spilled into English rivers 403,171 times – up 38 per cent on 2019. This equated to 3.1 million hours of raw sewage entering rivers, including many of those favoured by wild swimmers.
Sewage was pumped into rivers 100,000 times last year in Wales.
And it’s not unusual to witness such an outflow taking place. A shocking video from earlier this year showed another chalk stream, the Wandle near Croydon, running into a flow of sewage pouring out of a sewage plant.
The Wandle was clear – until it hit the thick brown sludge.
I joined Feargal and a few members of the fishery on a trip up the Lea above Amwell Magna trying to find the source of its pollution. But the catchment area is vast and, despite visiting many sewage storm overflows, we found nothing. A few weeks later, Amwell Magna’s bailiff, Martin Phipps, suggested a source – a sewage leak that flows along a ditch and into the Lea and on to the fishery.
Martin believes it has been leaking for years but the source is overgrown with dense vegetation.
But The Chalk Aquifer Alliance says sewage is not the only problem, stating on its site: “Many chalk
streams in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and southeast England don’t have enough water flow to function properly.
“Over-abstraction from the groundwater is the main reason. Too much water is pumped out of the chalk for our domestic supplies, and in some areas for agriculture.” Feargal, a vice president of Salmon and Trout Conservation and an adviser to River Action, said: “In 2016 Amwell Magna almost took the EA to the High Court.
“We began complaining in the 1990s. The EA launched an inquiry for 13 years with no apparent resolution. By 2015 the river was a 2.5mile stagnant pond. As early as 2012 the fish population had fallen off a cliff.” The fishery later discovered the EA was letting Lea water pass down a flood channel and allowing Thames Water to take up to 100 million litres a day from the river.
Feargal said: “As a result there is no water going to the Lea for 36 days a year. Upper reaches of one tributary are a ditch with a few pools. The upper two thirds are gone. [They] over-abstract the water and replace it with sewage.
“Why did 60 men who love fishing have to spend 18 months making constant Freedom of Information requests? We almost took the EA to the High Court to get them to do the job they should have done in the first place.”
An EA spokesman said: “We work closely with partners, including Thames Water, to manage water flow from the Lea and ensure both Amwell Magna Loop and the public have access to sufficient water.
“However, water flows can sometimes fall below their normal range during periods of low rainfall, which often coincides with peak public water supply demands.”
A Water UK spokeswoman said: “Water firms are investing £5billion in rivers, including £1.2billion to improve storm overflows and sewage treatment works. But we’re calling on the Government to bring forward a Rivers Act to provide greater protection in law.”
A Thames Water spokeswoman said: “We have recently taken 20 million litres of water a day less from the abstraction point near Amwell Magna than in 2013.
“We always try to reduce abstraction when flows are low, and in 2018 carried out extensive river restoration work.”
‘Too much water is pumped out of the chalk for our domestic supplies, and in some areas for agriculture’