For all of us in Rye the incident on the river Tillingham on September 28, when walkers saw “the river turn black, grey and blue with dead fish floating on the surface” brought forward a project already in the planning. Strandliners, councillors Cheryl Creaser (Rother District Council), myself, Sue Learoyd Smith (Rye Town Council/Rother Environment Group) and the Women’s Institute (as part of their national WI campaign for “Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife”) are working in partnership to reduce the causes of contamination, whether it’s agricultural run-off, sewage-related overflow, or plain old plastic pollution – they’re all harmful to humans and wildlife.
With your help, the Three Rivers Project plans to survey and analyse pollution along the Rother, Brede and Tillingham and set up a monitoring group to oversee the rivers’ health.
We are grateful to Strandliners for sharing their expertise and taking the lead on this project, starting this month, with their river catchment surveys on plastic pollution and river health on October 25 and November 11 & 12. For any of you who wants to join us, email: strandlinersevents@gmail.com.
If you’d like to find out more and develop your knowledge further, join Strandliners’ free community action team 2023 course on October 21 & 28 in Rye where you will find out more about plastic pollution, citizen science and water analysis. Please email: strandlinerscic@gmail.com.
The Three Rivers Project is about raising awareness about our local river pollution in our community and finding solutions to clean up our waterways by making a difference together.
Image Credits: Strandliners .
Well done to all for raising awareness.
Step 1. Take regular samples from several places on the three rivers, then we’ll know what pollutants are present and how they can be dealt with.
I thought the ‘official’ explanation for the discoloration of the Tillingham, the foul smell and dead fish was due to silt movement and low flow in the river. I walk past the river near the sluice gate every day and have never noticed this natural phenomenon in 11 years of living in Rye.
Would dredging the rivers be an option?