SaveOurStort

– We must end the chronic and acute pollution of our streams and rivers by both human sewage and livestock slurry. These are two separate issues which have the same effect – our rivers are simply dying. It’s just unacceptable in a rich country like ours that we do this;

– we must undo the blocking and straitjacketing of our streams and rivers by innumerable concrete dams and weirs, many of which serve no useful purpose at all. These structures impede the movement of migratory fish and other wildlife up and down our river systems, causing a collapse in their numbers (think Atlantic salmon), while preventing sediment from flowing downstream in the natural way, which produces its own cascade of problems. No more of these should be built, and we should set about removing them, starting with the obsolete ones;

– We must end the artificial straightening and dredging of our streams and rivers in a foolhardy and entirely counter-productive effort to reduce flooding. Our landscapes are meant to act as giant sponges, absorbing rainfall when it comes and releasing it slowly throughout the year. With our field drains and ditches and straightening and dredging, we have turned these landscape sponges into washbasins, hugely increasing the volatility of both flooding and drought. We should set about undoing this nonsense, re-wiggling streams and rivers, restoring ponds and wetlands, and paying farmers to farm in such a way that soils are restored to health, and water is retained in the landscape;