Over many years the quality of our waters – both around our coastline and inland – has been declining. This has often made news headlines. From water companies being regularly taken to task over illegal discharging of raw sewage into our rivers and seas, to pollutants being allowed to run off agricultural land.
This not only presents a danger to wild swimmers and children playing in streams, but is a serious threat to wildlife and the waterways themselves.
Whilst it is true that nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus are necessary for plant growth, in many areas, including the Somerset Levels, these levels are far too high. This results in excessive weed and algae growing which damages aquatic life and suffocates plant life on the river beds. Plastics, chemical pollution, climate change and surface run-off from roads and farms are just some of the reasons that less than a fifth of England’s rivers are considered healthy.
Citizen scientists and campaign groups across the country and coastline have been campaigning over recent years to shake up the government and make them take positive action to better protect our waterways.
So what can you do? Become a volunteer citizen scientist investigator for the Westcountry Rivers Trust. Westcountry CSI is an opportunity for you to connect to and protect your local river Tone and its tributaries such as the Westford stream.
The Westcountry CSI aims are:
- To educate and engage people with the water environment.
- To produce data that can be used to target work and identify degrading water bodies.
- To spot pollution events which can be dealt with as quickly as possible.
- To create a network of catchment communities that are invested in their local environment
Water Citizen Scientists
Volunteers take environmental observations and water quality tests from allotted sample points close to where you live. The observations include noting the wildlife and any problem plants you spot along the water courses to help build a picture of the local ecosystem.
Each year the evidence you collect over a 12 month of sampling is analyzed to create river health scorecards for that body of water. These can then be compared to other bodies of water across the area or region.
Westcountry CSI create interactive learning opportunities, both online and in the field, for you to learn new skills and gain greater understanding of rivers and their habitats.
Regular water quality sampling produces robust data which can be used to identify areas of concern, enabling you to better understand your waterway, helping to spot positive and negative changes and influence action when needed.
Westcountry CSI volunteers already survey hundreds of freshwater locations in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and West Dorset to monitor their health, biodiversity and water quality. But many more are needed.
By sharing our knowledge with communities across the Westcountry, we will become credible and competent custodians of our rivers, enabled with a database of robust data to call upon when action is required.
The River Tone and its tributaries are an iconic part of our landscape. The vision of the Westcountry Rivers Trust and one I’m sure we all share, is to see people helping their local river flow freely and teem with wildlife, while valuing one of our most precious resources, water.
To sign up and get involved visit the Westcountry Rivers Trust.
TTW has a Water Guardians Group that meets regularly. If you are interesting in joining please fill in the contact form at the bottom of this page.
The Water Guardians team have created a beautiful map of the town’s waterways. At a time when rivers are under such threat, and activists everywhere are campaigning for rivers to have legal protections under rights law. The Water Guardians group decided to use the words of the River Tone Rights Charter around the edge of the map. This declares the river’s own right to regeneration, right to life, right to be protected from harm – and above all, it’s right to flow.
It is available for free in paper form from the Wellington Town Council offices, at Sunseed, Ruxstons and other outlets in town and downloadable in digital form by using the button below.
Wellington Basins Volunteer Group
The Wellington Basins Volunteer Group (WBVG) was formed in 1978 to maintain and enhance the area around the ponds, or basins, and streams. The basins and streams were originally used to power the Tonedale Mill. The group is funded by grants, donations and fundraising events.
WBVG meets regularly to cut the grass, trim the hedges, pick up litter and looking for any discarded fishing tackle. Other tasks that are necessary from time to time include keeping the footpaths clear, clearing any fallen trees, planting trees and wildflowers and maintaining the timber walkways and fishing platforms. Also the streams need attention to ensure that they flow freely. The group has also started looking after the wildlife pond in the community wood. The committee meets six times a year to to discuss plans and fundraising etc.
The area is rich in wildlife including swans, kingfishers, moorhens, mallards, herons egrets and black headed gulls. The waters contain a number of fish species including roach, perch, bream, pike, carp and common eels.
If you are interesting in joining please fill in the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Wellington’s Historic Waterways – on film!
‘Stream Power – The Waters that made Wellington’ is a lovely film about the water courses around Wellington. It explains how this water was the reason that Tonedale Mill is located in the town. The Fox family and Tonedale Mill are fundamental to history of Wellington and its water courses. Richard Fox is featured in the movie and explains how the water systems were essential for the mill.
The film is very well made and will be of interest to everyone living in Wellington or those who visit the town regularly.
The film features the Basins – the mill ponds constructed in the early 19th century along with a complex network of leats, sluices, bridges, and wiers, to regulate water used by the Fox Brothers textile mill at Tonedale. It highlights the work of community groups – like the Basins Volunteer Group – who look after these precious waterways and the land around them.
Beavers
Although we don’t (yet! or as far as we know) have beavers in Wellington, they are nearby thanks to their successful reintroduction along the River Otter by the Devon Wildlife Trust. Along the 12-mile stretch of river between Honiton and Budleigh Salterton, visitors can see evidence of these fascinating creatures.
Farmer and renowned beaver-champion Chris Jones was one of our speakers in 2021, highlighting the vital role beavers play in revitalising wetland habitat, encouraging biodiversity, drawing down carbon, and helping in natural flood mitigation.
More information can be found on the Somerset wildlife trust beavers page and the main page of the trust where to see Beavers
Saving water
Water saving and water collection have become important in recent years as the climate changes. Although we get plenty of rain, it is not always at the right time of year. There have been periods when keeping the plants watered on the various TTW sites has been quite challenging. Because of its topography, Linden Meadow is one such site where keeping plants watered is difficult. So, a new IBC collection tank has been built there and in Fox’s Field and will make watering very much easier in future.
We have included the pictures showing how the tank was created and also a diagram of the construction. People may decide that they could replicate this elsewhere. IBC tanks (intermediate bulk container) come in a variety of sizes and are larger than most water butts. They can be bought new or reconditioned and are sometimes even given away. Obtaining a secondhand tank is a good form of recycling single-use plastic. Depending on their previous use, the tank should be cleaned out, and the water stored in it, should not be used for drinking (people or animals), but is ideal for watering plants.
Get involved
If you are interested in this group please fill in the form below