The state of the River Severn in Bewdley and Stourport

This, and industrial activity upstream, will have taken its toll.

The first ‘law’ in England was Edward the Confessor’s Edict on Rivers in 1085 which declared that navigation should be the paramount interest on the King’s Royal Rivers, including the Severn: “If mills, fisheries or any other works are constructed to their hindrance, let these works be destroyed, the waters repaired and the forfeit to the King not forgotten.”

We know that the state of our river improved enormously after the demise of heavy industry and commercial barge traffic.

It filled with water weeds and all the creatures, such as spawning fish and what they eat, did very well.

Until now when, apparently, all the water weed has gone!

Given that other forms of life depend on it, the loss is serious.

Alongside all the other things we have to worry about, focusing on the state of our river may seem a bit of a luxury.

Every time we go out, we see the water still passing under Bewdley or Stourport bridges as it has done for centuries.

Have we come to take it for granted?

We want to bathe, paddle and row safely in our river, catch fish and enjoy the spectacle of the swans, geese, ducks, dragonflies and sand martins as people have done for decades.

If lucky, you could see the fish, even the elusive river lamprey, a species that has suckers and a row of sharp teeth instead of jaws.

On a really good day we may see a kingfisher or a dipper, all dependent on a healthy river with water weed, among which the more primitive creatures, such as small fish and creepy-crawlies, can live and multiply.

The water used to be clear in summer, free from all the silt and sediment.

Now it’s almost always brown and, even when at its clearest, is still too silty to see the bottom to greater depth.

Walking along Riverside in Bewdley you may even smell it.

No, this is not good enough which is why so many of us are getting together to do something about it.

What’s it like now? Definitely it’s colour — soil-brown. Soil should not end up in the river.

There are incentives to support careful management of the land alongside it.

The Top of the Poops website claims there have been at least 582,000 ‘sewage spills’ into waterways in 2023, lasting 4,693,170 hours.

Our river is now ranked as the third worst for sewage discharges.

These figures are for known discharge points so we have to add on all those as yet unmapped small contributions which may have been seen or smelled during our walks.

Quite apart from the physical pollution, sewage discharges include nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate that encourage algae rather than the water weeds which are so essential for all life in the river.

Excesses promote the growth of algae which smothers other plants.

A group of us known as CARP (Communities Against River Pollution) are contributing simple measurements of water quality at locations.

These include water chemistry, invertebrates (generally creep-crawlies) and water plants.

Apart from more visual things such as marches, we also recognise the importance of talking to all concerned and preparing reports based on the hard information.

It’s not just us, similar groups are already active such as Up Sewage Creek, a Shrewsbury-based river campaign group, plus another community science pilot project in the River Stour catchment.

Following on from what King Edward said nearly 1,000 years ago our King recently said while opening parliament: “The Water (Special Measures) Bill will deliver on Labour’s pledge to tackle pollution in rivers, lakes and seas by introducing personal criminal liability for breaking laws on water quality and new powers for Ofwat to ban bonus payments.”

All those associated with CARP, which could be you, are asked to come along to our World Rivers Day event on Sunday, September 22 at Bewdley Rowing Club to talk with us, see what we have been up to and to join us. See you there.

Roger Meade is the co-ordinator of Wyre Forest Friends of the Earth and contributes to CARP.