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River Beane Restoration Association
We're a volunteer-run not-for-profit group working to protect and improve the River Beane for the benefit of all. We work closely with Herts Wildlife Trust, Environment Agency and other members of the River Beane Catchment Partnership riverbeane.co.uk
A massive thank you to the team of #volunteers (including two out for the first time today), who helped pull the #invasivespecies #himalayanbalsam from a stretch of the #RiverBeane, a precious #chalkstream in Hertfordshire. A smaller team had cleared a lot in recent weeks but today’s efforts joined the previous sections to complete the balsam bashing along this 1.4km of river alongside the Hertfordshire Way, south of Stapleford. Well done folks!
Are you getting our emails? We’ve sent messages about volunteers sessions recently… but quite a few appear not to have been opened. If you’ve signed up to the RBRA but not heard from us, take a look in your junk/spam folders and see if we’ve ended up in there. Our messages come from ‘hello@riverbeane…’ or ‘Pete from the RBRA’ – It would be a shame if you’ve missed them…
Its interesting to note that, although the water companies have imposed hosepipe bans (more correctly, temporary use bans or TUBs), the groundwater level in the aquifer – the giant underground reservoir Hertfordshire's tap water comes from – is still fairly good for the time of year, helped by the wet winter we had. However, the rate at which those levels are now dropping is of concern.![]()
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The bans are in force, not so much because of a lack of reservoir capacity (Affinity have increased local storage capacity significantly over the past two years), but because the amount of water we're taking water from the taps is greater than the rate the pumps and purification can keep up with. Daily water consumption is up at least 20% above that of a normal summer.![]()
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Use tap water wisely though, because unless we get exceptional rain between now and Christmas, there will be bigger issues next year. Notice on the graph how the lowest groundwater levels are actually in the winter in most years: it takes around three months for rain falling at the surface to reach down into the aquifer and replenish those reserves. The drought now affects the reserves for October onwards, and the hosepipe bans are to ensure security of supply later in the year and into next…![]()
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Graph shows Environment Agency data, which you can access via the RBRA website: riverbeane.co.uk/useful-links/
The hot weather and lack of rain is really starting to take its toll on our rivers. Ideally the water in a chalk stream sits between 10 and 12 Celcius. Much more than that and fish and invertebrate life will suffer. So, 22C in this shallow section of the Stevenage Brook, a key Beane tributary, is not good at all. The shallow depth and lack of flow are leading to elevated levels of phosphate and nitrates too, which, coupled with uninterrupted sunshine is boosting algae growth. Further downstream, things are rather happier though: deep enough to merit a drysuit to reach some of the invasive Himalayan Balsam growth. ![]()
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#chalkstreams #drought #riverbeane #stevenagebrook
It’s hard to remember that we had one of the wettest winter/Spring periods for a long time just six months ago. That rain topped up the aquifer — the vast underground reservoir that most of our drinking water comes from. But that same vast reservoir is what feeds Hertfordshire’s precious chalk streams, which are now starting to struggle in their upper reaches. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the Environment Agency have now declared an official drought in Hertfordshire (and half of England too)… ![]()
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More than half of England officially in drought – Environment Agency
www.bbc.co.uk
Scorching temperatures and very low levels of rain have seen droughts declared across much of England.
The RBRA is now on Instagram as well as Facebook. We’d love to see your photos of the river, the wildlife along it or of anything else related to this precious chalk stream. Tag us using @riverbeane in your Instagram posts 🙂![]()
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Photo: The River Beane as it flows past Waterford Marsh taken a couple of weeks ago.