Look out for the amazing 'In Praise of Rivers' - a book bringing together paintings and other artwork, poetry and prose, all dedicated to the rivers that run through our land. Edited by Katharine Roberts, it's a feast. 

We're delighted to report that our application to Dorset Community Foundation for a grant from the Wessex Water Community Fund has been successful. 

DCF and Wessex Water have been a huge source of help to our project (with Wessex Water continuing to test our water samples fortnightly at their own expense).​

News just in from Ali Ferris at Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre:

I have been working with Philip Strange to ascertain where some new larger black bio beads might be coming from that we have found washed up in Charmouth in the last 6-12months. I collected and sent samples off to Plymouth University and this is what has come back……
 
“I have finally heard from Dr Turner at Plymouth about the pellets you collected and sent to him.  He found that the small and large pellets had very similar profiles of trace elements (lead and bromine), similar to other small black  biobeads he has analysed and probably made from recycled electronic waste.  The blue pellets showed copper only and this probably reflects the blue pigmentation.
 
The results fit well with the idea that the large pellets are made for SWW from recycled small black ones and suggest that the large biobeads you see at Charmouth are coming from SWW sewage plants (either overall carelessness or a spill).  SWW have still not given me the information I requested  about the large beads, I will chase them up again.”

We've published our Charter for the River Char. It's a first step towards getting the rights of river acknowledged:

Clean water flowing freely - through its cycle of cloud, rain river and sea - is essential for all life. Our river is a living system. While its banks and bed are privately owned, its
health is entrusted to us all. We all share the benefits that our river brings and we all share responsibility for it.

We, the people who love this place, name ourselves stewards of the River Char. We affirm the rights of the river and its tributaries:

• To be alive and to thrive
• To be clean and unpolluted
• To give life and enjoyment to the whole valley and enable nature to flourish
• To have legal guardians to act on its behalf

You can sign the charter online here. Please do!

New partnership closes the loop for hundreds of tonnes of plastic bio-beads, headed for landfill.

​Thanks to Philip Strange for spotting this item about a plan to recycle South West Water's biobeads

How to get involved with your local river project…
For our River Dragon Festival next year, we need people to help:

• organise, join in and publicise the Festival
• contribute paintings, photographs, stories, memories, songs
• work on costumes and the dragon itself
• liaise with local schools and organisations

For our campaign to clean up the River Char, we need people to help:

• be River Guardians (walking the river, collecting information with iNaturalist)
• monitor mink on the river and, eventually, reintroduce water voles
• support river ecosystems by removing Himalayan Balsam from the banks
• draft and agree a River Charter

Please come along on 16th October to hear short talks about all these things, find out how you can help, share your skills and experience, sign up to work with us. Everyone is really welcome to this community meeting.
Please join us!  
Lower Char Community Project
Contact us: [email protected]