How anglers are saving the River Medway from the effects of harmful pollution

For 70 miles the River Medway flows through Kent and parts of Sussex, a creative inspiration to Charles Dickens.

In recent years, it's made headlines for unpleasant reasons with it being one of Britain's most polluted rivers.

Untreated sewage spills from Southern Water outflows, in addition to chemical run-off from substances used in farming, has led to what campaigners claim is a damaging impact on the environment and aquatic life.

High levels of nitrates and phosphates have caused fish to die, leaving anglers devastated over the state of their precious fishing spots.

The Angling Trust started an initiative two years ago to regularly monitor the water quality of rivers across the country, in an effort to solve a nationwide problem.

Groups of anglers, like those who are part of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Angling Society (RTWAS) are not only sampling the water, but they're trying to enhance life to combat the effects of pollution.

Chairman of the society, Clive Meers Rainger, said: "We had a problem in recruiting small fish. The fish were spawning, but we couldn't maintain the small fish.

"So what we did, we enhanced the gravel's - this gravel here being one of the ones we enhanced. We actually put 180 tonne of extra gravel where we knew the fish spawn. We put in plants which unfortunately keep dying off because of the toxins in the river.

"We've made refuges so there's somewhere for the young fish to hide when the water is high.

"We want to enhance the environment, both for the insects, fish, birds and mammals that live along our stretch of the river. And that's why it's so important that the water quality is healthy.

"We've always known the water quality wasn't very good. So we installed things like flow deflectors, which agitates the water, which increases the oxygen level.

"We lift the canopies, which allows the wind to blow along the river. Those ripples put extra oxygen in the water. There's 101 little tiny things we do that makes a big difference."

Clive Meers Rainger who chairs the society explains how testings has made a difference

RTWAS is one of 300 angling clubs to record the chemicals found in the river, as part of the Angling Trust's initiative.

Ian Tucker from the Royal Tunbridge Wells Anglers Society says the problem is deeply personal as he wants to see a world where his grandchildren can fish without being concerned about pollution.

He said: “We've now been gathering data for the last 18 months, we really have got a very good picture of how particularly this outflow is affecting the whole of the main buoy catchment, 50 miles of river from here to the sea.

“The telling thing is when you get to summer and the water levels are lower and you've got the heat and the algae being produced and starving, all of the invertebrates and wildlife and fish of oxygen, that's when it really becomes a problem.

“We just care about our environment and keeping the legacy to our grandchildren. So that's why we're doing it. Just to try and get people to understand how poorly this river has been treated over the last few years. And that's what's driving us, really.”

Angler Ian Tucker from the Royal Tunbridge Wells Anglers Society explains how bad the problem is.

In 2021 Southern Water was fined £90 million for deliberately dumping raw sewage into seas and rivers thousands of times.

Earlier this year the firm was fined £330,000 after raw sewage escaped into a stream near Southampton for what the company admitted could have been nearly 20 hours.

Southern Water aims to reduce the annual number of pollution incidents from 483 in 2022 to less than 130 by the end of 2024 and zero by 2040.

The company says it's reduced pollutions by 35% already, despite one of the wettest winters on record. While 22,000 radar devices have been installed across its 45,000km sewer network to proactively detect issues before they become pollutions.

More than £3 billion of capital investment is being made into the system during the 2020-25 regulatory period, the equivalent of more than £1,500 per household.

Drew Chadwick, the Angling Trust's Environmental Officer for the South of England explains how successful the testing has been.

Drew Chadwick, the Angling Trust's Environmental Officer for the South of England, says their testing initiative will help tackle the problem.

"A lot of these anglers have been fishing the rivers for decades and then noticing a lot of trends...certain species of fish in decline and the quality of the fish in decline.

"So with a bit more digging, we found pollution has a direct impact on food availability, which then obviously has a knock on effect in the whole food chain.

"That's why anglers are so good at sort of being on the ground and testing quite regularly.

"With that information now we can take the right measures in the right steps to improve the situation."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.