We want to work together to learn more about water quality, and to share information and ideas to help us take action to protect our local rivers and brooks.
Our Concerns
Our Derbyshire Dales were created by rivers and streams eroding the limestone landscape over millennia. These waterways are places of wildness and natural beauty – tranquil, green havens for us all to enjoy. With much industrial heritage from our past uses of the water, the dales are now loved by local people and visitors alike, for their wildlife, and for angling and walking. Yet all is not well in what should be the most protected waters in a national park.
Recent media reports have highlighted two main problems with water quality in Tideswell Brook, but also other local rivers and streams. Small, upland brooks join the River Wye, and then flow onwards to the River Derwent, the Trent and into the North Sea. All our waterways are connected.
Our two main concerns locally are:
- The local Tideswell Sewage Treatment Works discharged untreated sewage into Tideswell Brook 125 times last year (evidence from the Rivers Trust). These are the known, permitted discharges – supposedly due to extreme weather events. Clearly our sewage treatment works cannot cope with the level of waste water produced on a regular basis.
- Tideswell Brook also had the second highest level of pharmaceutical pollution in a study of UK rivers undertaken by York University recently. This included common medicines, including antibiotics, diabetes drugs, and antidepressants (read more details about this study here). There is significant concern about the impact of these drugs on human health and wildlife.
There are many issues which may be affecting our local brook, including inadequate and outdated sewage treatment infrastructure, inappropriate disposal of pharmaceuticals, and pollution from unknown sources. It is very difficult to pinpoint just one problem. You can read more about the issues affecting our local brooks and rivers here.
But who is responsible for the water quality in our local rivers and brooks? And what can we do to help address these problems?
TDEG public meeting on water quality
On 9 October, TDEG hosted a general meeting to discuss the issues affecting water quality in Tideswell Brook and elsewhere. We had contributions from the Environment Agency, the Rivers Trust, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, and the Campaign for National Parks.
You can read a summary of the meeting and the full presentations here.
As a result of discussions at that meeting, a group of concerned residents agreed to form a Rivers and Brooks Group to focus on action on this issue.
The new Rivers and Brooks Group has already had its first meeting, and we will be sharing information about steps we can all take to to help relieve pressure on our local sewage works, as well as highlighting the agencies who we need to lobby to encourage real action to address these issues.
Join Us
If you would like to join this new Rivers and Brooks Group, and receive updates and notice of meetings by email, please contact us at info@tdeg.org.uk .
Together we can make a difference!
