The Kennet flows again - but for how long?
The rain has brought some respite to drought-blighted waterways such as the River Kennet, in Wiltshire. This time last year the river, one of Britain’s finest trout streams, was a parched mudbath as the once rapid flow dwindled to a trickle. Environmentalists said much of the blame lay with Thames Water for extracting too much from the underground reservoirs supplying the river. Last month they condemned a Government decision to allow further extraction from the river – which is a site of special scientific interest because of its ecological value – to supply Swindon and Reading. Local campaigners said yesterday that the latest downpour into the river, a chalk stream running west into the Thames from the Marlborough Downs, was not enough. Roger de Vere, leader of the Action for the River Kennet group, said: "We’re content but not euphoric. The river is no more than just healthy, as it was so low before that it has a huge overdraft to make up. |  Back On Course - the river brought back to life |  Dried Out - the empty, cracked bed of the River Kennet last April |
"We would want this sort of rainfall every year for the next six or seven years. It’s welcome but it isn’t the answer. It’s the wrong kind of rain. "What is needed is a long, continued drizzle in the winter months, when the water is not simply sucked up by surrounding vegetation." | ||
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