Writing in his weekly column for West Sussex newspapers this week, Andrew Griffith shares his concerns about the delicate chalk streams of the South Downs.
"There are few natural habitats more quintessentially English than the chalk streams we are blessed with across the South Downs. Cool, clear water permeating through the chalk downs and emerging into gin clear streams providing habits for insects, birds and wildlife.
Chalk streams are a globally rare habitat with the UK having more than anywhere else in the world. Charles Rangeley-Wilson, the conservationist and writer described them as: “our equivalent of the Great Barrier Reef, or the Okavango Delta”. No one need go far to see one. Locally a good example is the River Lavant. Rising near the village of East Dean, it flows through Singleton, West Dean and Lavant.
Chalk streams have been under threat for decades. Post war intensification of agriculture, housebuilding on green field sites and water abstraction for a growing population have all damaged their delicate catchments. But this summer’s low rainfall has demonstrated just how vulnerable our rivers are. Across the Environment Agency's Solent and South Downs area, in July rainfall was just 1 per cent of the long-term average of 55 mm. Aquifers that feed the chalk streams are notably low.
I am a member of the Parliamentary Group on Chalk Streams and will be doing all I can as Member of Parliament to raise the profile of this issue.
We should treat chalk streams as the internationally important habitats they are. That means reducing sewage spills and other pollution and ensuring abstraction does not leave insufficient water in our rivers. Second, we need to make the landscape better at retaining water. Good planting and high levels of organic matter in the soil allows more rainfall to soak into the chalk rather than rush away on the surface. Encouragingly, this is already happening on the Lavant. Western Sussex Rivers Trust, Goodwood Estate, Chichester District Council and Southern Water are restoring 1.3 kilometres of the river and 16.6 hectares of floodplain, including planting 200 trees.
Our climate is changing but in our chalk streams we can do something about it on our doorstep."
