Currently the Pymmes, Salmons and Ching Brook’s are so polluted that they support extremely limited riverine ecology
Additionally each river is extremely flashy, this washes out much of the ecological value when it eventually does establish. The development and delivery of diffused Nature Based Solutions throughout these catchments would purify the water and regulate the flow regime therefore enable the development of proper riverine ecology within these catchments.
The modelling project’s aim was for evidence gained to lead to catchment scale restoration of 3 of the most challenging rivers in the UK from a water quality and flood risk perspective, with an aspiration to change how we look to manage highly challenging urban rivers at a national scale.
The Community Modelling groups brought together in 2017 through the TRF funded T21 Community Water Quality Modelling project, have developed their knowledge and skill sets.
They have engaged with other local residents to investigate the potential of the interventions they’d identified to reduce the risk of flooding to people and property. The water quality improvement projects have been assessed against an established baseline in order to gauge their flood risk reduction potential at a catchment scale. The groups have gained momentum and are continuing to raise the profile of the project and its aims to the wider community. Walk overs with councils are continuing to progress.
This project has developed undertaking a natural capital assessment when combined with the Community Water Quality Modelling outcomes. Through the combination of these results T21 hopes to have enough information to develop the business case for significant investment to develop catchment scale water quality improvement and flood risk reduction to people and property. It has already formed the basis for a larger NERC project.
To find out about our other TRF projects, click to view our Thames Rivers Trust brochure.
Completed November 2018
Greater
understanding by the community
Water
quality testing investigation
Achieve
water body status
Building the community group’s knowledge and understanding of the pressures through mapping workshops, walkovers and site visits.
