Water Health Guardians unite!
Due to growing concerns about the levels of sewage in Brislington Brook, a new FoBB subgroup has emerged. Water Health Guardians aim to use political pressure, building partnerships and developing the water testing protocol to hold water companies and others who pollute the brook accountable.
Political Pressure
Bristol City Council’s Environmental and Sustainability Policy Committee met at 5pm Thursday 30 July. As with all committee meetings, this meeting was recorded and the video with official notes uploaded to Bristol City Council’s website.
There were two items of interest raised during the meeting, the first the One City Clean Rivers Working Group – Report and Action Plan which included Wessex Water’s plan to upgrade storm overflow drains around Bristol by 2030. When asked why Brislington Brook has not been included in the plan for future improvements, Wessex Water responded that addressing the pollution in the brook was ‘not in scope’ of their improvements as they claim that Environment Agency data proves that the water industry is not linked to Brislington Brook ‘not achieving good ecological status’. To read more about this check out Alex Seabrook’s story in Bristol 24/7.
After liaising with Alex Seabrook and local councillors, on Friday 8 August Jackie had a successful meeting in Nightingale Valley with Kerry McCarthy MP For Bristol East and Councillor Katja Hornchen who represents Brislington East. During this meeting, Kerry agreed that the storm drain was clearly pumping raw sewage into the brook and committed to writing to Wessex Water. It was also noted that this was happening during drought conditions, signalling that the storm drain is in urgent need of upgrading. Kerry posted her letter to social media. During the meeting she agreed to table an official parliamentary question on the matter, after parliament re-sits on 1 September.
Building Partnerships
During the committee meeting on 30 July, Bristol City Council’s Environmental and Sustainability Policy Committee resolved to approve the decision to recognise and support the River Avon Charter. This decision was a result of campaigning involving various groups, the documentary “Rave on for the Avon” and finally pushed through by Meg Avon and We are Avon.
The charter sets out 7 rights that the committee have resolved to support: these rights include the right to representation in decisions that affect the river and the right to not be polluted. The next step will be for the charter to be passed to full council for adoption or endorsement. You can read more about the campaign to encourage councils to adopt the charter in this article.
Bryony met with Hannah and Katie from the Conham “We are Avon” group on 31 July. They are keen to support the FoBB campaign and had some helpful advice regarding water testing. Also, they suggested we work together to organise a River & Brook Stakeholder Meeting that brings together local groups who are concerned about water health and identify shared concerns and opportunities to support each other. Tim and Celia from St Anne’s House have expressed a keenness to support this partnership work and have offered us space at St Anne’s House Cafe for the first meeting.
Details are below, please join us to discuss our relationships to the River Avon & Brislington Brook, meet others who feel connected to the water sources and find out about exciting upcoming events. We hope that this will be the first of many events, building a local network of solidarity and advocacy for local waterways.
River & Brook Stakeholder Drop In
6.30 to 8.30pm
Friday 18th September
St Anne’s House
We are planning to invite the following groups, please let us know if there is anyone else we should invite:
- Friends of Eastwood Farm
- Arial Rowing Club
- St Annes Fishing Club
- Friends of Trooper Hill
- Friends of Avon Valley Woodlands
We hope this meeting will be the start of a strong network we can draw on for support with this and future campaigns.
