content@managingwater.co.uk River restoration & management


For more information on the Wandle trust, visit www.wandletrust.org or contact Tim Longstaff


tim.longstaff@wandletrust.org


About the trust


by Tim Longstaff


The Wandle Trust is an environmental charity dedicated to restoring and maintaining the health of the River Wandle and its catchment.


Thanks to the hard work of many volunteers, and the generous support of supporters such as Thames Water, the river is being restored to its former glory as one of the world’s great chalkstreams.


River restoration


Here at the Wandle Trust, we believe that restoring natural chalkstream processes along the River Wandle represents a unique opportunity for many different organisations to come together and work in close partnership to secure the healthy, sustainable future of this very special urban chalkstream.


During the 19th and 20th centuries, many parts of the Wandle were heavily re-engineered – firstly for the benefit of the 90 mills that once lined its banks, and then to increase its efficiency as a storm drain, carrying as much water as fast as possible out to the Thames.


Fortunately, times have changed, and the emphasis is now on recreating biodiversity, restoring natural features, and helping the river itself to moderate high and low flows.


Despite localised over-nutrification, the effects of urban run-off, and massive abstraction from the aquifer that supplies its headwaters, the quality of the Wandle’s water is some of the best in London, and there are large populations of freshwater shrimp and other invertebrates for fish to eat.


We also know that significant numbers of our Trout in the Classroom fry are surviving and growing to maturity – another indication of the Wandle’s potential, even in its unrestored state.


Like the proverbial canary in the mine-shaft, trout are an indicator species that can tell us how healthy their environment is. If trout can survive and thrive, even in an inner city, this reveals that the habitat may be good enough for threatened species like water voles and otters – as well as kingfishers, herons, insects and fish like barbel and dace.


In late 2005 we started this process by commissioning a survey of the whole river from the Wild Trout Trust. Walking the full length of the Wandle in 2 days, their expert surveyor helped us identify at least 10 stretches which would benefit from more restoration – ranging from a shallow area of gravel just below Carshalton Ponds, to the reinforced banks alongside Merton High Street and Garratt Lane.


For instance, hard-sided areas of steel sheeting or concrete could be softened with “green walls” and meandering low-level rolls of coconut fibre or bundles of brash, planted with native vegetation – or broken up with gravel and boulders, as the Environment Agency have already done near Plough Lane.


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Where there are too many trees overhanging the river, some of these could be thinned to restore a patchwork of light and shade, with a mosaic of habitats which will benefit the widest possible array of our native wildlife. Recycled branches can also be used as large woody debris flow deflectors, which re- energise sluggish currents, scour silt away, and re-sort the river gravels so that that many fish species can spawn successfully.


We’ve also been working closely with the Environment Agency to decide what to do about the many weirs and hard structures that still remain from the Wandle’s industrial past, and are now preventing migrating fish and other species from moving freely along the river.


From 2011 onwards, successful applications to sources of Water Framework Directive related funding, including Defra’s River Improvement Fund and Catchment Restoration Fund, have allowed us to start work on lowering or even removing some of these weirs altogether – restoring the river’s natural gradient for the benefit of many species.


But most significantly of all, we hope that the ongoing scientific and social research for our community-driven Catchment Plan will soon reveal exactly what projects we need to prioritise with our partners to make the Wandle truly sustainable for the future.


Silt Fence and Erosion Mats


“Effective vegetation restoration, erosion protection


and pollution control”


© National Grid - Felindre to Brecon gas pipeline project Stormwater Run-Off


Terrastop™ Premium is a entrenched filter fence that traps harmful


suspended silts in construction site stormwater run-off.


Disturbed Sediments Sedimat™ matting traps harmful


sediments disturbed during in-stream construction activities without causing water back-up.


Surface Erosion


CoirMesh™ tough biodegradable meshes protect vulnerable bare


surfaces from erosion and promote vegetation restoration.


HY-TEX


Newt Barriers • Weed Control Fabrics Root Barriers • Geotextiles • Turf Meshes


Bank Protection CoirLog™ coconut fibre bio-rolls


protect water margins from erosion and provide a stable, healthy


OVER 20


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