Stream Cleaned – Phase1
Today I went back to the stream in Newcastle under Lyme and began cleaning it.
I borrowed a litter picker from a local school and bought some rubber gloves and bin bags at Aldi. I knew there was quite a bit of litter in the stream but I wasn’t prepared for just how much.
The Pool was a bit more than a foot deep
It has effectively been dammed by bricks and rubble so the water was just sitting in a basin, and due to all the rubbish, was just a cesspool. So, I moved a lot of the bricks and rubble from the shallow water and placed them in the deeper plunge pool part. This makes the plungepool shallower thus moving the water more quickly.
Then I managed to clear rocks and debris from the main stream and get the water flowing faster by deepening parts of the stream bed. Once this was done the stagnant water quickly flowed away.
It’s so much cleaner now, but for how long I don’t know. I was hoping for some publicity to bring it to the attention of the locals the local paper has sent out a photographer, but I’m not sure if or when the article will appear. So I guess, for now, I’ll have to do my own publicity.
Whilst I was there I saw some Pied Wagtails and a Robin playing in the stream.
Just for the record, I did submit the previous article to the Newcastle-Under-Lyme Council and they did not respond. So I’ll email this blog post to the local paper, Local websites, Local Councilors and the council environment dept. Because let’s face it this isn’t an isolated incident is it?
Despite there being quite a lot of litter, it was pretty rewarding work, although I can tell you now, that I ache like an old man.
In this photo, you can see the water is beginning to clear up a bit before it was a murky rust-filled puddle.
The stream still requires a bit of attention further down but it’s nowhere near as bad as the top part.
Which is now returned to some semblance of health.
Why am I doing this?
- I’m doing this because it needs to be done
- I had the privilege of playing in a crystal clear stream when I was growing up.
- Because the stream should never be allowed to get into this state in the first place
- It should be cleaned by whoever is responsible for the park
- Because kids should be able to play near a nice clean stream, instead of a cess-filled puddle.
- To draw awareness to the fact that if we act as citizens, we can clear up any and every problem that blights our communities,
- You don’t have to wait for someone else to do it, see it’s broken -hate it? fix it.
Things pulled from the stream today
4 metal bars
A metal spike
a gazillion crisp packets
loads of cider bottles
3 broken wine bottles
Fruit shoot bottles
multiple beer cans
1 mobile phone
1 cigarette lighter
Lots of sweet wrappers
Loads of Plastic bags
Metal grills
1 hubcap
1 bike tyre
1 radiator hose
A lot of rubble and sticks
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TO ANYONE WHO CARES ENOUGH, AND LIKES WHAT I DID HERE. KEEP YOUR EYE ON YOUR LOCAL AREA, TRY TO PICK UP LITTER WHEN YOU SEE IT, IF YOU SEE IT COLLECTING, CALL THE COUNCIL, IT ONLY TAKES A FEW MINUTES. ITS OUR PLANET LETS TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THE ENVIRONMENT.
