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| Is this a river or a long narrow pond? |
Have you looked at the River Cam lately? It is more like a long narrow pond than a river, the flow is so slow, even after all the rain we had in October. The Environment Agency water situation reports since at least May rate it as ‘Exceptionally low’ which means, based on historical flow, it has been better than this 95% of the time. However in terms of rainfall the current drought is not exceptional - certainly not as bad as in 2010/2011.
The Cam is fed from chalk streams fed from the same aquifer that is used to supply our water. The groundwater levels in this aquifer are also exceptionally low and long sections of the streams have been completely dry at times. This is a serious problem for the natural environment: there are impacts on fish, insects, birds and plants in and around the river and its tributaries. The Environment Agency has described this an 'environmental drought'.
This is why I am organising a Transition Café night on 20th November about water. We will have a number of expert speakers to explain the situation and then we will discuss what we can do about it. Please come if you can. The problem is partly caused by climate change and there are striking parallels to climate change in how we might manage it.
