Troubled Waters
A call to action from our Creation Care & Sustainability Officer, Marcus Zipperlen.
British rivers and lakes are in a parlous state because of pollution from sewage discharges, run-off from fields and urban areas, and industry. Not only are waterways denuded of wildlife but often positively unhealthy for us and our pets. Why are we in this mess?
Water companies have a lot to answer for because they have discovered and exploited the fact that pollution pays. It’s been more profitable not to invest in the required treatment works where the regulatory authorities have been too weak to call them to account. Equally, the austerity years saw significant cuts in the budgets of the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales so they simply couldn’t perform their job of monitoring and enforcing standards.
Wales fares better than England with 44% of our rivers achieving a Good ecology status compared to only 15% over the border. Nonetheless, St Davids Diocese’s largest waterway, the Cleddau estuary, is one of the most ecologically damaged in Wales.
What might the Church do to help restore our rivers to health? Archbishop Andrew John asked himself this very question and came up with a significant response. Recognising the broad reach of the Church in Wales, its independence and generally trusted position in civic life, he decided to take advantage of these attributes and convene a conference of those with a stake in our rivers from across Wales. On November 7th and 8th this year the Church in Wales is hosting a Restoring Welsh Rivers Summit where Welsh Water, Farmers, Industiry, charities, academics and others will come together to share knowledge, debate issues, and hopefully find new and sustainable ways to manage Welsh Rivers. Do include this venture in your parish and individual prayers.
To tie in to with the Archbishop’s timely actions we will be organising some events in St Davids Diocese later in the year, most likely in September, to care for our rivers in practical ways. I will keep you informed as plans crystallise. Finally, what might we do in our daily lives to help keep our waterways healthy? For a start use biodegradable cleaning products at home and in church. Supermarkets stock them so it’s really not difficult these days. Also, minimise your use of pesticides and weedkillers in garden and churchyard, and lastly don’t dispose of waste food down the sink but send it to compost. Little things, but with a big collective impact.