Our year ends with better news of the river
The good news is that phosphate readings were much lower than usual, with the exception of the reading nearest the Sewage Treatment Works (STW), readings tended to be High rather than Too High. We can't say whether this is related to higher water levels or not. The Environment Agency (EA) has been in touch with South West Water (SWW) after our group reported very high phosphate levels near the STW on 9th October 2021. Recently, strimming has taken place near our monitoring spot that may indicate some level of response from SWW but this can not be confirmed. We hope to learn more about the EA investigation in the near future.
As the following chart shows, elevated phosphate levels in the main river tend to be the norm. Note that from November a slightly different monitoring point was chosen downstream from the STW. This was following our discovery of a phosphate level of 2500 ppb nearby. We believe the new monitoring point is more representative of the phosphate level in the river. The EA seems to have established that the STW is a source of high phosphate levels.
More good news about the wildlife too .....
On our walk we observed signs of otter activity in the Valley, alongside grey wagtails and dippers making themselves at home on the River Par.
Unfortunately, they were too quick to catch on camera!
With usual thanks to Roger Smith for compiling our reports from which this information is taken.
