Main image: Dana Assinder

Imagine a river THAT's
​safe to swim and play in

The Lower Char Community Project was formed in early 2022 with the aim of learning about our River Char so we can clean it of pollution. We are building on work done by locals, experts and the people at the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre - and most especially on the research and writing of Philip Strange.

We're already working with Char Valley Parish Council, which has a similar project higher up the River Char. We're also working closely with Wessex Water who showed us round the Sewage Treatment Works in 2022.

We're looking to:

• find out where pollution comes from (run-off from the land, leaking septic tanks, sewage spills, etc)
• measure pollution and water quality in the river regularly
• find out what we can do to reduce sewage spills (working with Wessex Water to get residents to separate sewage and rain water in their homes, planting reedbeds, etc.)
• learn how we can help protect local homes from flooding as summer storms and other extreme weather events become more common.

We have started a carefully planned campaign to get necessary changes and improvements done quickly. First steps are to clean up the plastic biobeads on the beach and dramatically reduce the number of times that sewage is spilled into the river and sea each year.
​See our Summary campaign and Campaign details. 

Charmouth Dragon

We're planning the Charmouth Dragon River Festival on 27th May, 2023
We’re continuing the preparations on
Sat. 1st April: 10am-2pm
Charmouth Village Hall (Wesley Close) (with Holly Miller)
We'll be weaving the Dragon’s head and tail and creating the mist flags. Please join us - children and adults welcome. Free event.
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Sat. 22nd April: 2-5pm
Charmouth Village Hall (Wesley Close) (with Martin Maudsley)
Listen to dragon and river tales.
Please join us - children and adults welcome. Free event.
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See more details on our Dragon page

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What we need more than anything is for the government to give the Environment Agency teeth. See this Nov. 2022 Financial Times article on how the UK Government has underfunded the agency that is designed to protect our rivers from pollution:
England’s rivers pay the price for hollowed-out Environment Agency ​

Be inspired: 
“We are the generation who has been handed the climate and ecological crisis and we will have to live with the decisions you make today. You have nine years to make the changes needed. You have to fix it. We have to live with it.
It’s the year 2050. Imagine this....  A coast with the sight of a surge of redshank, knot, and oystercatcher flocking in, to breed, make their home and thrive. A coastline where the cry of tern and flute of curlew competes with wind and wave. A place where the salty air is fresh and untainted by the stench of human waste and the shoreline is free from plastic. The feel of rocks encrusted with barnacles, periwinkles, and bladderwrack. An intact marine ecosystem with mammal, bird and fish in abundance. Harmonious and majestic; a place to get lost in. One that can persist for generations into the future for all to love and enjoy...."  read the full piece here

What to do if you see sewage in the river or in the sea at CHARMOUTH
1. Take photos and immediately call Wessex Water on 0345 600 4600. Give an exact location and description.
2. Follow up with an email to them at customer.services@wessexwater.co.uk (copied to rivercharmonitoring@gmail.com)

If you spot sewage pollution in the River Lim or on the beaches at LYME REGIS
1. Take photos and immediately call South West Water on 0344 346 2020. Give an exact location and description.
2. Then follow up with an email to the River Lim Monitoring Group at enquiries@turnlymegreen.co.uk)

Signs of sewage pollution include:  
toilet paper, wipes, faeces, condoms, sanitary products in a river or in the sea, on a riverbank or the beach ~ a river appearing cloudy or milky ~ grey feathery ‘sewage fungus’ on the bed of a river ~ dead or gasping fish ~ a noticeable sewage smell
[There are many reasons why foam appears in rivers and near the seashore. Some of these are completely natural. Do not make an emergency call about foam unless you have other evidence to suggest that it is caused by sewage.]

What we're doing

We're:

• monitoring water quality in the river regularly (see photo below) - let us know if you want to help
• working with Wessex Water to reduce sewage spills into the river
• working with the community to create awareness of problems with the river and how we can resolve them
• working with South West Water to clean up plastic biobeads from the beach

Julie Leah and Mike Haines water monitoring ion the River Char (image: Judith Haines]

The Lower Char Community Project received ​a substantial grant in June 2022 from Wessex Water Foundation via Dorset Community Foundation. We will be using this funding to do three specific things:

1. monitor the River Char and identify sources of pollution
2. engage the community in rainwater separation schemes
3. investigate and implement nature-based solutions.

NEWS UPDATES

GREAT NEWS! 7th Feb. 2023: We launch our Campaign to Clean Up the River Char. Details here

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GREAT NEWS! 22nd Nov. 2022: South West Water have confirmed that they will lead a clean-up of biobeads at the mouth of the river at Charmouth Beach in Spring 2023. Details here

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GREAT NEWS! 21st Nov. 2022: South West Water have confirmed that they have completed the clean-up of biobeads at their Uplyme Sewage Treatment Works. Details here

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Here's a video of the Green Party's Baroness Jenny Jones's visit to Lyme Regis in September to learn more about pollution in our rivers.

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Cormorant and friends at the mouth of the Char. Photo: Judith Haines

Image from www.nurdlenerd.co.uk

Nurdles and Biobeads

A quick look along Charmouth Beach will reveal a horrifying amount of plastic.
This ranges from bags and bottles to shards of degraded plastic as well as nurdles (the raw material of manufactured plastics) and biobeads (used in the sewage treatment plant above Lyme Regis - but not at the Charmouth Sewage Works).

Find out more on our plastics page.

Image from Wikimedia

sewage spills

There's been a lot in the news about sewage spills recently, including those in and near Charmouth. We've had a tour of Charmouth Sewage Treatment Works and lots of information from Wessex Water.
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We've prepared a summary page and a detailed report on how these spills happen locally, how often the happen and what we can do together to help address the problem.
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Sign up below if you'd like updates.

Image from Wikimedia

Wildlife

A lot of the work going on further up the river is designed to record and support the wildlife that lives on and around the river.
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We are doing our bit by starting a year-round water quality monitoring programme, gathering sightings of birds and other wildlife (some, like mink, not so native or desirable) and celebrating the river's own wild life.

Sign up below if you'd like to help.

Sign up to join the River Char Community Project here and we'll send you our occasional newsletter with updates and ways you can help. (We won't send marketing and promotional materials but we have to ask your permission by law!)

OUR GOAL

Help us clean up the river, so we can get rid of this sign (photo on the right) at the beach by the bridge
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Here's why that sign is at the river mouth:
The Environment Agency measures levels of E Coli and Intestinal Enterococci at the pool of the River Char (just before the beach at Charmouth). 20 measurements were made between September 2018 and September 2019 (last figures available).

E Coli levels ranged from a low of 480 to a high of 18,000. They averaged 3,135. The acceptable upper limit is 900. The River Char was more than three times over that level. [In case you're wondering, on 13th July 2012 they were over 100,000. On 22nd May 2014 they were 115,000. In October 2014 they were 210,000. That would kill an ox.]

Intestinal Enterococci levels ranged from 27 to 29,000. They averaged 2,750. The acceptable upper limit is 330. The River Char was more than eight times over that level. 

Intestinal Enterococci and some strains of E coli can cause urinary tract infections, gastroenteritis, endocarditis, diverticulitis, meningitis, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, colitis and Crohn's disease.

• Read the full Environment Agency tests from the mouth of the River Char: 2000-2019

Further Reading
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• Foam in rivers and still waters​

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• Evidence of Pollution

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• Problem Plants

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• Sewage fungus - a field and microscopic guide​

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• ​Nurdles and biobeads - everything you need to know

 

• ​How and why to use Natural Flood Management techniques in our river

Resources
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Is my river fit to play in? Check the online map at the Rivers Trust
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The Water Companies​

• England’s highly paid water bosses rake it in from lucrative second jobs

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• Bonuses for water bosses in England up 20% in 2021

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• Water companies have paid  over £72bn in dividends and taken on more than £50bn in debt and paid £58m to the CEOs of the 12 largest water firms in 3 years.

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• Watch BBC Panorama'a 'The River Pollution Scandal' (In 2020 water companies pumped raw sewage into English rivers for over 3 million hours)

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• ​Read The Guardian's article - Britain oozes sewage

Other River Groups
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• Char Valley Parish Council's River Char Community Project

• River Asker project

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• River Axe Regulatory Report

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• Friends of the Upper Wye