A celebration of the world’s waterways, the day highlights the many values of our rivers, strives to increase public awareness and encourages improved stewardship of them. This year’s event is on September 22.
There are only 260 chalk streams in the world, and Hertfordshire and Middlesex is home to 10% of them.
These unique river systems support some of our most endangered species, like wild brown trout, kingfishers and water voles. They are England’s equivalent to tropical rainforests.
Our chalk rivers are facing a host of challenges posed by pollution, abstraction and modification impacting their flow, quality and physical.
As a result, less than a quarter are in good condition and none of those is in Hertfordshire and Middlesex.
The Trust has been working since 2012 on its Living Rivers Project, raising awareness of the issues chalk rivers face and delivering improvements through restoration projects.
This year, the charity was awarded £1.7m from the Government’s Species Survival Fund, delivered by the National Lottery Fund to restore chalk rivers in the region
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