Evenlode in bad shape after the hot, dry summer

Sat 30 Aug, 11:53

The problem with phosphorous is that it’s a naturally occurring part of human and animal waste. If you strip phosphorous at the treatment works, it still has to go somewhere. Usually it would be made into sludge and applied to farmers’ fields. Then when it rains, some of it will be back in the river. So it isn’t an easy problem to solve. We would have to pay a lot on our water bills for phosphorus stripping - as it isnt funded by tax, only by our bills - and then if the sludge isn’t carefully managed it could end up back in the river anyway. 

Sat 30 Aug, 10:11 (last edited on Sat 30 Aug, 10:24)

Hi Saskia

You're right. I read that 65-80% of the phosphate comes from sewage. The Evenlode Catchment Partnership has been taking about this problem for years. Clearly Thames Water is not going to do anything until they are forced to by the government. Our MP needs to act.

"Ann Berkeley, ECP project manager said "The partnership has worked hard to provide concrete evidence proving the need for immediate upgrades to Thames Water’s 19 sewage treatment works in the catchment, including the urgent requirement for phosphorus stripping. Extensive monitoring by ECP citizen scientists, and analysis of data by scientists at Earthwatch, has confirmed the damaging impact of phosphorus on the Evenlode and its tributaries."

Thames Water had previously agreed with ECP’s assessment to include phosphorous stripping upgrades in their draft business plan (PR24). Upgrades to 13 sewage treatment works were included in the draft plan as recently as summer 2023, but were dropped from their most recent business plan which has now been formally submitted to the Ofwat for scrutiny"

https://www.wildoxfordshire.org.uk/news-blogs/thames-water-plan-for-the-evenlode-a-betrayal-of-trust#:~:text=betrayal%20of%20trust'-,Evenlode%20Catchment%20Partnership,urgent%20requirement%20for%20phosphorus%20stripping.

Fri 29 Aug, 22:54

Interesting thread. Although the hot weather and hence low water will certainly have an impact, with phosphate levels that high surely the source of phosphate pollution should be looked at. A quick search appears to indicate that in the Evenlode catchment area the main sources are agricultural (fertilisers) run off and sewage. If that's correct (ECP people?) clearly the demand should be for the water companies to take out the phosphate and for the farmers to reduce their input. What we all can and should do is to check our detergents don't contain any phosphates as I think some of them still do in the UK.

Fri 29 Aug, 22:49

Privatised Thames Water’s failings are pretty basic…. Apparently none of the sewage works upstream of Charlbury are equipped with phosphate stripping processes. So it is not just a case of  sewers and drains being overloaded after storms. Even at the best of times when the system is working well nothing is being done to remove one of the most serious pollutants from entering the river. That is both scandalous and scary, I’d say

Fri 29 Aug, 22:48

Privatised Thames Water’s failings are pretty basic…. Apparently none of the sewage works upstream of Charlbury are equipped with phosphate stripping processes. So it is not just a case of  sewers and drains being overloaded after storms. Even at the best of times when the system is working well nothing is being done to remove one of the most serious pollutants from entering the river. That is both scandalous and scary, I’d say

Fri 29 Aug, 21:28

Well said Alice. I did have a thought about welding steel plates over the drains in the streets, but then diversion to land is needed for that runoff. Hydrologists are needed now more than before....and economists to unravel the privatisation of utilities, where has that 'choice' got the 99% of us and where has it got the 1% of the others, poorer not just financially and richer financially. 

Fri 29 Aug, 20:28

Another thread 'a drop in the ocean' talks about nationalising the water industry.  Let's give our vote to the political party that promises that.  

We need to unmingle our waste water.  Many or most of us live in houses with co-mingled drains.  If we've paid off the mortgage and have cash reserves we could stop flood water going down to the sewerage farms and overwhelming them.  A grey water system with a tank in the garden - they were built into houses in the past, why not today?

The local farmers are trying to reduce their dependence on nitrates.  We might support those that do and avoid those that don't.

Planning consent - the big developers put in water attenuation tanks now.  Small developments need to do the same and all the new granny annexes & cottages need to contribute to the cost of their increased demand for water services.  

What we're relying on at the moment is sufficient rain to dilute the pollution we put in the rivers and hope that the wild populations survive.  I'm happy for the chub but I hope no-one is eating anything out of the river.

Fri 29 Aug, 18:26

Hi Martin, yes I very much support efforts to reduce pollution in the river but it sounds like the weather has been a big factor this summer and we probably need to adapt to using less water with climate change, as well as reducing pollution.

Fri 29 Aug, 18:04

However until a couple of weeks ago it has been home to a reasonable population of ~12" long chubb, who have hung around for about 3 or 4 months; perhaps they are big and ugly enough to cope with the water quality and temperature, but it is heartening to see them!

Fri 29 Aug, 17:21

Claire, our water comes from Farmoor Reservoir. It used to be more local when I first moved to Charlbury. The water was much harder, but tasted much better (rather like Blenheim Spring Water). 

Farmoor Reservoir was 90% full in July which is apparently below average. No figures for August yet.

Fri 29 Aug, 16:53 (last edited on Fri 29 Aug, 18:30)

Hi Claire, 

Of course Sean Woodcock can't do anything about the weather but he can do something about the effluent flowing into the Evenlode from Thames Water sewage treatment works. Perhaps you are not aware of the disgraceful treatment of rivers by Thames Water. There has been plenty of reporting around this: e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/20/thames-water-raw-sewage-rivers-2021

Local groups have also documented this well, for example here:

"Many Sewage Treatment Works (STWs) are designed to deal with a ‘usual’ amount of wastewater, during dry weather flows. The problem is that most of the STWs in the Evenlode don’t remove excessive nutrients like phosphorous, nitrates, microplastics and other contaminants. These enter the river from the treated effluent. These nutrients cause a chronic problem for water quality which causes algae, diatom and fungal growth."

https://evenlodecatchment.org.uk/what-we-do/water-quality-and-advocacy/#:~:text=The%20problem%20is%20that%20most,river%20from%20the%20treated%20effluent. ;

Sean Woodcock is our elected representative - of course he can do something about this. The water companies need to be regulated properly. 

Fri 29 Aug, 16:33

Signal crayfish are another consideration. There are a lot in the Evenlode and they are voracious eaters of aquatic invertebrates. I fly fish on two local lakes and they do not suffer from sewage spills or farmland runoff but they do have large populations of crayfish which have substantially reduced insect numbers in recent years. Also, water temperatures of 26 degrees were recorded in one of the lakes this  summer which is far too high for a lot of fish to survive. 

Fri 29 Aug, 16:28

The water in the river has to come from somewhere, and it hasnt rained! So I’m not sure what Sean Woodcock could do apart from a raindance.  Using less water would help , although I’m not sure where our drinking water comes from. Anyone know? John, making use of your compost heap should help since the volume of clean drinking water used by each flush  is a good deal more than the capacity of the human bladder. 

Fri 29 Aug, 15:02

Good question. Perhaps a coordinated letter writing campaign to sean.woodcock.mp@parliament.uk to do something about it. I can't find any record in Hansard of his raising a speaking in parliament about the Evenlode. Neighbouring MPs have: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-04-23/debates/D32DD42A-8E52-4CF8-B7AB-4D20FEA8B47C/Sewage

Maybe I'm wrong and he is a forceful campaigner on this issue - in which case I apologise.

Fri 29 Aug, 14:29

But can we actually do much as individual Charlburians? (Obviously the Mill Field site is upstream of our outlet .. perhaps there were too many Americans in Dean in the past few weeks, pushing the sewage system to its limits?) But what can we do about downstream? Should I pee on my compost heap more often? Or less often, to increase the amount of water in the river?

It's actually a serious question - what can we do?

Fri 29 Aug, 09:33

This is very sad and shocking.  Given that it's our fault I suggest we keep bringing it back up to the top for people to read.  We can all take our own little steps to repair the damage we have done.

Thu 28 Aug, 14:54

There are signs that the Evenlode river is not in great shape as it passes through Charlbury. For the first time ever, none of six regularly monitored species of river invertebrates were found to be present in the latest monthly survey carried out near The Mill Field in late August. At the same time, the level of phosphate pollution was recorded as higher than at any time since recording started.  It seems that the hot, dry summer has exacerbated the already severe impacts of sewage and agricultural pollution on the health of the river.  The Sustainable Charlbury website has more information:  https://sustainablecharlbury.org/news-and-views/tough-times-for-invertebrates-on-the-evenlode/ ;