Working together is the key theme of a blueprint of actions published by the Environment Agency today to help safeguard and protect the Bristol Avon and the area it flows through.
The Avon and its tributaries rise from the unspoilt hills of the Cotswolds, Salisbury Plain and the Mendips. It winds its way through farm land, busy city centres including Bath and Bristol and out to sea at Avonmouth.
Now, after a three month long public consultation, a 28 strong steering group led by the Agency has produced a special Local Environment Agency Plan (LEAP) for the Bristol Avon to help resolve nearly 50 environmental issues affecting the area.
Key points in the LEAP include:
* concerns over the impact of water abstraction on the upper reaches of several brooks and streams, particularly around Malmesbury.
* the impact of nutrient pollution and nutrient enrichment which causes accelerated growth of algae and plants such as duckweed (eutrophication).
* a variety of urban pressures – drainage from new developments, contaminated and derelict land, ever increasing quantities of waste, flytipping, poor water quality, river rehabilitation and channel management and rubbish in the river.
* regulation of a very diverse range of major industries across the whole area and their discharges to air, water and land.
The LEAP action plan contains a list of actions that consider costs and benefits. It also identifies when and by which partner organisations improvements will be carried out.
“The Bristol Avon is under continual pressure from human activity and this LEAP shows how all the interests are working together to protect and enhance it,” explained Alan Turner for the Environment Agency.
Copies of the Bristol Avon LEAP Action Plan are available from LEAPS, Environment Agency, Rivers House, East Quay, Bridgwater, TA6 4YS or tel: 0845 9333 111.
