Blog & News

Cam Safer Swim Initiative

The Cam Valley Forum recently consulted about designating part of the River Cam as a “Bathing Water”. This would benefit river users by prompting work to improve the quality of the water.  Our proposals are here:

cvf_swimming_proposal_informal_consultation

We were delighted to receive 75 responses and have distilled these in a response document:

Responses-to-CVF-Bathing-Water-Proposal

We are now forming a steering group to take forward a ‘Cam Safer Swim Initiative’. Action areas include:

  • Making local improvements at bathing locations
  • Gathering data on recreational use of the river
  • Monitoring water quality
  • Pressing for better wastewater treatment and an end to combined sewer overflows
  • Reducing diffuse pollution from fields and roads
  • Pursuing dialogue with a wide range of interests

If you would be interested in helping in any of these areas, or have any comments and suggestions, please get in touch cssi@camvalleyforum.uk.

AGM 2021 and Annual Talk, 7:30pm-9pm Thursday 25 March

Cam Valley Forum AGM at 7.30 pm, followed by the annual lecture by Charles Rangeley-Wilson at 8pm on A National Chalk Stream Restoration Plan: the next steps to save our rivers

Charles Rangely-Wilson’s work and advocacy on behalf of Chalk streams is without equal. A well-known river environmentalist, author and Wild Trout enthusiast Charles Rangely-Wilson is Chairman of the National Chalk Stream Restoration Group. His writing has been described as ‘capturing the essence of time and place in ways that open your eyes to what you are missing’.

Do join us, participate in our AGM, hear from Charles Rangeley-Wilson and help us all guarantee a future for our chalk streams.

Register for this event here, and you will be sent the zoom link a few days beforehand.


Bathing Water designation for part of Cam

The Cam Valley Forum is consulting about getting part of the River Cam designated as “Bathing Water”. This should benefit a wide range of river users by improving the cleanliness of the water and providing warnings if the water quality is unsafe for swimming.

See our informal consultation document here

cvf_swimming_proposal_informal_consultation

If you have any comments, please let us know before 21 February 2021

We have been overwhelmed by the level of support for this idea, but have also had a few thoughtful ideas for improvements and will be using these to refine the proposals after our deadline of 21 February

CVF respond to DEFRA consultation

Cam Valley Forum calls for support for river flows and habitats under Environmental Land Management schemes

The Forum’s response to the recent Defra policy discussion paper on future support for Environmental Land Management (ELM) calls for:

  • DEFRA to work with local people and local river groups to inform and help achieve national objectives
  • A ‘managed aquifer recharge’ option to be added to the menu of land management options for farmers.
  • Much greater support for ELM investments on riverine margins – ‘Riverscape Opportunity Areas’ as we’ve termed them. In intensively managed landscapes such as the Cam Valley, river corridors offer perhaps the best opportunity to reinstate extensive contiguous areas of improved habitat, while also protecting and enhancing Chalk streams.
  • ELM agreements to support ‘nature-based’ options to manage flood risk.
  • Plenty of expert advice, local tailoring of objectives and actions, valuing environmental services effectively.

The full CVF response can be downloaded here.

CVF-response-to-Defra-ELM-paper-31-07-20Download

Letter to minister

We are delighted that Anthony Browne MP for South Cambridge is joining us in calling on Defra to establish a ‘Chalk Streams Task Force’ to develop a Strategy to restore natural flows to Chalk streams.  We have worked with Water Resources East to draw up an eight-point plan to kick-start the Task Force’s work.  We are working to build a strong coalition of support for this initiative, which recognises that national policy on managing our water resources has to change.

You can download Mr Browne’s letter to the DEFRA Minister, Rebecca Pow, and our initial plan below

Anthony Browne MP letter to minister Download

Diary of the fight against Floating Pennywort on Shelford Stream

The email extracts below give the flavour of how persistent dedicated volunteers, with support from agencies and councils can take on the eradication the invasive weed, Floating Pennywort.   This is the (ongoing) story of the fight.

We had previously suceessfully eradicated Floating Pennywort from the Upper Cam (see blog posts from 2017-19) so we were very concerned when we were notified on 11 March 2020 by the Environment Agency that they’d received a new report of Floating Pennywort  on Shelford Stream; a small chalk stream watercourse that flows into Hobsons Conduit, then the Cambridge Botanic Garden and the Cam. ….
 Continue reading Diary of the fight against Floating Pennywort on Shelford Stream

Blanket Herbicide Spraying by the Environment Agency

Cam between Littlebury and Little Chesterford, 19 Oct 2019 (c) Mike Foley

We are horified to discover that the Environment Agency is proposing, once again, to blanket spray herbicide along large stretches of our precious rivers and streams.   We object strongly to this, and urge the EA to put their money and resources to better use.

You can see a summary of our progress (or not) below, and a full log here of the reports that we have received of damage caused by blanket herbicide spraying

Update  26 June 2020

We understand that discussions are ongoing in the Environment Agency and hope for a positive outcome.  In the meantime we would welcome any further views and evidence from river users to help us press our concerns home and ensure that the funds earmarked for spraying are instead used for positive work to enhance our rivers.

Update 4 June 2020

In early June, we were horrified to discover that the Environment Agency is proposing, once again, to blanket spray herbicide along large stretches of our precious rivers and streams.   They say this is “to maintain sinuosity within the channel to help reduce flood risk”

You can see the full list of sites here:EA herbicide proposals 2020

They sent this out for consultation to selected key conservation organisations a few weeks ago, with a deadline for responses of 5 June. However, as many staff are on furlough, it has only just come to our attention.

You can read our formal consultation response here

Publication of our report “Let it Flow!”

River Granta at Stapleford, Sept 2019

Cam valley Forum publishes Let it Flow! – detailed proposals to restore the River Cam

Our new report – Let it Flow! – explains the environmental impact of water abstraction on the Cam Valley and calls for actions in seven main areas to protect and restore the river:

  1. Substantial reductions in groundwater abstraction from the aquifer that feeds our Chalk streams. Where the water environment is being damaged, licences need to be amended or terminated to deliver real cuts in actual abstraction, not just paper savings in licensed amounts
  2. Investment in new sources of public supplies. Proposed strategic north-south transfers of water should be extended to benefit the Cam Valley too. Locally, high river flows should be captured in a new reservoir in the lower Cam Valley, once they have flowed through it in as natural a way as possible, and be redistributed as necessary.
  3. Investment in water reuse and aquifer recharge schemes. Sewage treatment works need to be upgraded to deliver better treated water to be reused for public supplies and to recharge the aquifer and/or to support irrigation.
  4. Investment in the harvesting of rainwater and recycling of greywater. Our local planning authorities need to ensure that schemes to harvest and recycle water become commonplace and help to make Cambridge a ‘Water Sensitive City’.
  5. A step-change in attitudes to water use through metering, leakage control and demand management. Cambridge should become the ‘No. 1’ water-saving city and the Anglian Region the ‘No. 1’ water saving region in England.
  6. Significant reductions in water pollution and investment in work to enhance habitats and natural processes. Action is also needed to: reduce pollution from land, businesses and homes; and to rectify the impacts of past river modifications, which have reduced connectivity between reaches (e.g. weirs) and between rivers and their floodplains.
  7. Improved resilience, not only for public water supplies but also for the environment. An increasing population, economic growth, intensive land management, and climate change, will all bring new pressures to bear on the Cam Valley’s limited and precious water resources. We all have a moral obligation to protect our river environments for future generations to enjoy.

Our 12 further recommendations are being submitted to Water Resources East, the body currently charged with planning the future for water resources in our Region. We want to work with the other members of Water Resources East to create an ‘Integrated Water Resource Management Plan’ to secure the best possible outcomes from this process.

We commend Let it Flow! to everyone with an interest in the environment of the Cam Valley.  We would welcome comments and support and look forward to developing our ideas further in close consultation with all relevant interests in the months to come.

You can download the full Let it Flow! report here and the four-page summary with the 12 recommendations here

CVF Coronavirus Notice

During the coming months, in view of the considerable threat posed by the risk of viral transmission through close person to person contact please note the following:-

We shall not be organising group field visits, conservation work-parties or face-face committee meetings until further notice

We will continue our monitoring and campaigning activities and so welcome being alerted to River Cam related issues and to any of your observations of INNS (Invasive, Non-Native Species) such as Floating Pennywort or Himalayan Balsam. e-mail: info@camvalleyforum.uk We will continue to maintain a log of observations of INNS on our website, and identify hotspots where individual action would be useful. https://camvalleyforum.uk/

We shall of course continue our occasional newsletter Cam Valley Matters, edited by David Brooks. Please do send us your River news. e-mail: info@camvalleyforum.uk

We encourage all our members and supporters to remain engaged with the natural environment to the extent that it is permitted.

However, irrespective of the dangers of COVID-19, rivers and watercourses are dangerous, particularly if you are on your own. If you wish to carry out conservation work, we strongly advise you to carry out your own risk assessment before starting work. For the avoidance of doubt, note that you will not be covered by CVF insurance during these self-organised outings.

19 March 2020

This policy will be revised at intervals, in accordance with government and scientific advice. Our latest version can be downloaded here