The declining water quality of our natural water bodies is a national scandal. According to the Rivers Trust only 14% of the UK's rivers are considered to be in good ecological health and none are chemical free.

Our rivers, lakes and coasts are under constant attack from a toxic mixture of sewage outfalls, agricultural, housing, road and industrial run-off, leaking septic tanks and illegal discharges from a variety of sources.

This polluting cocktail is causing a serious decline in the natural environment with potential knock-on effects on our own health. A substance used in many products and found in hundreds of drinking water samples across England has been categorised as carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation. There are only three designated swimming sites in England and all three have been given 'poor' status by Environment Agency meaning you could get very ill!

 So how are our local rivers faring in all of this? The £2.1million fine given to South West Water last year for four major incidents in its area. Our very own Creedy river took a 'star turn' as illustrated in the GOV.UK press release shown here - 'The River Creedy in Crediton was one location where harmful chemicals from South West Water damaged the environment'

However there is good news for our other local river the Yeo. Between Crediton and Newton St Cyres where our native white-clawed crayfish is managing to avoid extinction against all the odds of pollution and the invasive signal crayfish. The Yeo and Culm are the only two rivers in Devon where our native crayfish still survive, however a breeding project is just starting to re introduce them to our rivers.

The West Country Riverss Trust is the charity which runs a Citizen Science Investigation scheme whereby volunteers can monitor water quality and send their results to the Trust giving them an overall picture of the state of our waterways. If you would like to become a CS volunteer then please contact them here, watch the YouTube video and click on 'Take Part'.

Alan Murray

Sustainable Crediton Climate Action Team