Talk reveals poor state of local streams and pond
Keir Smith of the Western Sussex Rivers Trust charity visited Buriton in November to give a talk in the village hall about the state of the water in our local streams and pond at the invitation of the Buriton Environmental Association. He was supported by Sian MacLeod and Elaine Bray, who as WSRT ‘water guardians’ monitor the water in our streams. Sian is also a WSRT trustee.
Keir explained that water from Buriton flows about 40 miles before it reaches the sea – going eastwards in the River Rother to Pulborough where it joins the River Arun and turns south to reach the sea at Littlehampton. The catchment area for these rivers is almost 1,500 square kilometres: mainly rural, agricultural land.
Shockingly, he added, the ecological and chemical status of the River Rother was downgraded to ‘poor’ in 2022, with high levels of phosphates as well as other problems like sediment and physical barriers affecting fish and other species.
Keir said that Buriton’s Waste Water Treatment Works in the Links (north of the village) has a bad record of Untreated Sewage Discharges: Environment Agency data for 2023 shows that there were 172 recorded ‘spills’ in the year, totalling to 2395 hours. This suggests that the average duration of each spill was 14 hours and that the spills were taking place for over a quarter of the hours in the year (27%).
But he added that Water Companies are not the only polluters – and that their treatment works cannot remove all the problems. They are unable for example to remove microplastics, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals that may be coming from our washing machines, sinks and toilets.
Scores of the Trust’s ‘River Guardian’ volunteers are now assembling regular evidence of water quality conditions and of problems caused across the Rother and Arun river catchment. This is increasingly vital as the Environment Agency’s water quality sampling has declined significantly over the last ten years.
Results from Buriton’s volunteers indicated that whilst there are traces of phosphates and nitrates in the water around the village pond, the situation is far graver beyond the Waste Water Treatment Works in the Links where some readings have shown levels that were amongst the worst in the entire catchment area: many times the recommended ‘acceptable’ level and often going off the scale that the usual measuring instruments could record!
Although contaminated water may be diluted as they join up with other streams and reach the Rother, it is sobering to think that pollution from Buriton can travel all the way to Littlehampton, affecting wildlife all the way.
Keir also highlighted other issues which the Trust is trying to help address, including invasive species such as Himalayan Balsam and Giant Hogweed that crowd out native species of plants and erode river banks.
Dog flea and tick treatments which many families now use include ingredients which were banned on farms as long ago as 2017 because of their toxic effects on bees and insect life. Keir encouraged everyone to ask vets about eco-friendly alternatives and to keep pets out of watercourses if recently been treated, an issue on which the BEA has also been campaigning.
He also reminded everyone that we should “only flush paper, pee and poo down the loo!” and that we should scrape any leftover food or grease and fat from plates and pans into our bins (not into the dishwasher or down the sink).
Sian added to Keir’s presentation by showing how she and Elaine sample and analyse the water quality conditions around the village pond and further north of the Treatment Works in the Links and beyond, and highlighted some of the alarming results which had been found.
She also provided an update about steps to improve the health of the village pond which had been found to be very poor for biodiversity and wildlife a number of years ago.
The pond is owned by East Hampshire District Council and, following encouragement from the BEA group, other local residents, our District Councillor and the Parish Council, it had recently agreed that an ecological survey should be done so that potential improvements could be identified, possibly including consideration of removal of some of the silt build up.
Ending on a positive note, everyone was cheered by the reappearance of the kingfisher over past weeks.
A copy of Keir's presentation is attached below.
