Caring for our river

The pennywort threat

From 2018 The EA warned river users about the increasing amount of the pernicious pennywort weed to our waterway, and sought assistance in spotting and reporting it. It is an alien species that can choke channels and starve fish and invertebrates of oxygen.

Anglian Water’s RiverCare organisation offered advice and equipment to local volunteer groups to pick and dispose of it, and the Trust adopted the existing teams from St Ives and Houghton & Wyton. With their efforts using boats from Jones Boatyard and Houghton Boats, plus an EA spraying programme, the immediate threat passed. Both teams – now experienced – are ready for action again if needed.

River litter picks

Next up, a subsequent EA initiative, PlasticBlitz, was immediately seized upon by the rested ‘pennyworters’, and the two teams were soon out and about targeting not only plastic rubbish but all waterborne and bankside litter. RiverCare provided equipment, encouragement, insurance and publicity. It is amazing what people thoughtlessly discard in the river. Here is our impressive but also depressing haul from an early trip. Future litter pick trips will now be regular and we welcome new volunteers for both the St Ives and Hemingford Grey stretches.

Water quality

The Trust has now registered an interest in helping Anglian Water analyse the cleanliness of our river water by providing water samples from our stretches of the river. Our friends on the Rivers Trust have provided maps detailing the locations of sewage outfall with the Ouse Valley. The status of the water in these places will be of great interest to all river users but particularly wild swimmers!

A group of volunteers has now expanded our team. We are now advising other parties in other localities on aspects of water quality testing. Our river water quality is generally not too bad and under normal circumstances is safe for swimmers and paddleboarders. However nitrates are often more than double the recommended level due mainly to field runoff. E-coli has been at excellent negligible low levels with the exception of the recent floods when it spiked temporarily but significantly.

Water extraction

The Trust attends the new Fen Reservoir Community Liaison Group meetings as a registered stakeholder. We have raised concern for an option to extract water from the river below Brownshill Lock, a tidal section, which may compromise navigation for pleasure boats at low tide.

Balsam bashing

Now we have a new threat. Himalayan Balsam is another invasive species. It looks pretty but it causes trouble by growing quickly, out-competes our native flora, erodes the bank and spreads quickly by exploding its seed up to 7 m. It’s spreading up and down the valley.

We’ve taken EA advice and tackled a trial patch to gain experience. It’s demanding work and we could do with Supporter help. Interested? Please get in touch!