As a lifelong user of the River Medway and campaigner, I recently joined River Action UK at their reception of the launch of the “Charter for Rivers." The event was sponsored by my great colleague The Rt Hon Phillip Dunne Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee. I was pleased to meet with James Wallace River Action’s CEO and campaigner Feargal Sharkey to discuss the challenges and further ambitions for the health of our rivers.
The Charter lays out 5 key points,
1) Ending Sewage Pollution,
2) stopping agriculture polluting rivers,
3) preventing harmful chemicals at source,
4) securing water supply for everyone,
5) Bringing nature back from the Brink.
On the River Medway we now have 98% of all Storm drains fitted with a monitor and I have been lobbying Southern water hard to get the data up on Beachbuoy as quickly as possible so we can see what they are doing in real-time. Everyone cares about the health of our rivers and I am pleased that Government are going further than ever before and that campaign groups are making sure that this does not fall off the agenda.
