River Cam Community Forum - Protecting and Nurturing Our Local Waterway

2. Abington River Care Group Bin Brook Group Barrington Conservation Trust Cam Valley Forum Friends of Cherry Hinton Brook Friends of River Shep Wilbraham River Protection Society Mel River Restoration Group Alban Academy Boat Club Cam Conservators Cam Rowers Cam Sailing Club Cambridge Canoe Club College College Boat Clubs Scudamores Federation of Cambridge Residents Associations Friends of Ditton Meadows Friends of Queens Green Friends of Midsummer Common Friends of Sheeps Green Friends of Stourbridge Common Save Our Open Spaces Cambridge Past Present and Future CPRE Wildlife Trust Countryside Restoration Trust Hobsons Conduit Trust NewnhamRiverbank Club Cambridge Trout Club Some River Cam Related Groups

3. The Cam Valley Catchment The Three Rivers The Cam The Granta The Rhee The tributaries The Bourn Brook Hobson’s Brook The Lodes The Mel The Shep The Hoffer Brook The Bin Brook

4. The Key Questions to addressHow is the River Cam important to us and to other local groups?What social values does the River Cam give to us?What does a "good" river looks like to us?What are your collective concerns forthe river?What would you most like to see done?

5. How is the River Cam important to us and to other local groups?What social values does the River Cam give to us?

6. What is the Cam Valley Forum ? • A community group concerned with the welfare of the River Cam. • Its flow & water quality • Its heritage value and its environmental importance • Its Natural History • Its right use for both amenity & recreation. • We want to represent:- • The people who live and work beside it: • People whose recreation is beside it: walkers , cyclists, anglers and birders. Etc.. • People who enjoy being in or on it:- boaters, rowers, sailors, canoeists, punters & swimmers. • The River itself…………..as it has no voice, no vote & no advocate. • Outside our Forum we engage with:- • Local Authorities, City Council, Cam Conservators. Etc.. • Farmers and Landowners. • Conservation Groups: Wildlife Trust, Cambridge PPF. CPRE, Etc.. • Water Companies: Anglian Water and Cambridge Water. • CamEO, the Environment Agency & Natural England.

7. The River itself The GrantchesterMeadows are locally important to many people because of their riverside charm and recreational opportunities

8. ‘The Rush’ stream on Sheep’s Green, in the heart of Cambridge, has been enhanced by having a fish-pass inserted at the top end. This is now the best running ‘stream’ on the Cam. Its aquatic animal life is being actively monitored.

9. Heritage is important to us. Cambridge in 1575

10. The Anglo-Saxons used Cam River water power extensively for milling. Domesday Book (1086) : On the Cam, Granta & Rhee there were 130 watermills in 86 different villages for grinding all the corn. (no windmills till 14th century) (H.C.Darby 1971) Hinxton Mill : Cambridge PPF.

11. Recreation: A Clare College ‘four’ practising on the River - early morning in the summer.

12. The Lower Cam Boating is enjoyed by hundreds of locals as well as touring long boats, etc.

13. Natural History Banded demoiselles and Water crowfoot

14. Possibly our finest River Cam bird found all along many reaches of the River. Grey Wagtails, Common Terns and Little Egrets are often seen Cambridge. The River is a wildlife corridor. The Ruffe or Pope A little known and beautiful fish species amongst the 20 different ones found in the River

15. River care volunteers put much in and get back much pleasure and reward for their efforts. Physical conservation work is fun and helps the river ! In Grantchester Mill Pond, eliminating Himalayan Balsam and Floating Pennywort. Mike Foley, (pictured) has been a Trojan action man in this respect for the past three years.

16. Invasive non-native species “Balsam Bashing” Himalayan Balsam Impatiens glandulifera

17. What does a "good" river looks like to us? Well, we know what we don’t like!

18. The Bad RiverImpossible to gain easy access to it.Crowded with boats and people Scenically uglyLacking in heritage valuePathetic flow Murky and silt laden water Polluted with organic matterHigh in phosphates and nitratesLacking any decent flora except surface duckweed and pennywortSeemingly lifelessWorn and beaten down banks, no bank vole habitatConflicting recreational activities going on so that users often annoy each other

19. The Good RiverPhysically and easily accessible for freeEasily accessible to boat, swim or walk bySpacious for ‘free spirits’Gracious for ‘well-being’Historically interestingAbundant year-round flow of water Clear and clean waterLow in soil nutrientsRich in diverse water plantsRich with fish and insectsEnlivened with birds and mammalsSpatially zoned for different people’s favoured recreationsSafe from hazards

20. Our greatest concerns ? Over-abstraction from the Cambridge chalk aquiferWith very slow flows, pollution is greatly amplified.The inadequacy of augmentation as a long term solution to remedy abstraction.In a polluted and degraded riverthere are real threats to biodiversity and the life of the river is endangered.

21. Rainfall on the Chalk (especially in winter) is the major river water source  Percolation Groundwater Storage   Spring water  Basal impermeable stratum

22. Is RAIN the problem? Cambridge; Annual Rainfall (blue), Winter rainfall (red) mm per annum 23 years data from from the University Botanic Garden 1996 to 2018

23. Winter rainfall over 56 years: Is our water supply system resilient enough to cope with this degree of variance? The mean is unchanged but the variance is great: SD is 25 % of mean rainfall

24. Some Inconvenient TruthsThis is a water stressed regionThe rainfall is very variable , year on year.There will be greater droughts than this year (2019) in years ahead.The summers are going to be hotterIn hotter weather, more water is used.The autumns are greener, therefore recharge time is possibly lessened.The winters may be drier ?There is not enough water nowThere is a great projected human population increaseThere is a greater need for better rural environments for all people and for doubling nature

25. Most of our tributaries are Chalk Streams, but the chalk is also abstracted for water supplies. The Environment Agency’s Zonation of Groundwater Protection for the Cambridge Water Company’s Licensed Abstractions 2019

27. 14 pumped borehole sources 28 ‘spring’ outfalls to chalk streams The Groundwater Support Scheme Augmentation of flows admits to the reality of over-abstraction.

28. The Siren Voices I965 Cambridge Meeting of the British Association 1985 GroBruntland World Commission on Environment and Development 1990s British Geological Survey, The Institute of Hydrology, UK 2000 EC Water Framework Directive. 2016 Environment Agency showed that nearly a quarter of the rivers in England are at risk from too much water being abstracted, leaving too little for wildlife: 2019 The River Cam Manifesto was published to raise our concerns. Today: The Environment Agency, Cambridge Water Company, Anglian Water, Natural Cambridgeshire and Water Resources East all acknowledge that there is a major water supply problem.

29. What you would most like to see done for the river?Increased resilience planning and implementation is absolutely essential first of all, as more water is needed for people, and very certainly more will be need in the future. The most immediate need is to phase out Cambridge Chalk water abstraction , progressively, until this resilience is reached and chalk streams recover permanently. We would like to see the cessation of abstraction from the Cam headwaters to Essex and Herts. We feel our water is being stolen! The Granta catchment must be protected by a trial cessation of all abstraction from that one river’s catchment.