February 14th, eh? Time to express your love for those nearest and dearest… We always tend to talk of our rivers in the feminine, and deeply snuggled in my heart are the Wye and the Wensum both. What do you say to them on such a day? What do you promise them in the coming year?
The Wensum as of yesterday was running at summer levels. How does that stack up with the abstraction permissions given to the new golf course at Lenwade that is only allowed to fill its storage reservoir in the winter? Low winter rainfall makes a mockery of that short-sighted protection measure.
And what of the Sea Scouts who have been operating in Norwich for generations? It seems they might have to abandon manoeuvres, perhaps indefinitely, because of the amount of sewage in the Wensum down in the City. Where is the love we are showing this poor river?
You could say the Wye is better treated. You could say that a whole posse of “lovers” are trying their best to work out solutions to the phosphate issue and its ramifications. The media are on the case. The politicians are taking note. There has to be some hope here… surely?
But, dear rivers, how do you explain Countryfile last night, which was one long condemnation of how we treat our “beloved” natural world? How do we excuse a public that routinely leaves waste wherever it goes in mountainous heaps of plastic? Truly, if it weren’t for anglers sending our rivers cards of love this day, who on earth would?
