A collaborative initiative to improve the River Chess and the surrounding catchment is making progress.
Representatives from the Chiltern Society, Thames Water and other local partners hosted a virtual workshop on February 22 to share the latest updates from the first year of the Smarter Water Catchment (SWC) initiative for the River Chess.
If you were unable to attend, you can catch up following the links to the recordings below:
- ‘Workshop Introduction’ & ‘Session I: Improving water quality and managing flows’
- ‘Session II: Enhancing wildlife corridors and controlling invasive non-native species’
- ‘Session III: Involving, and engaging, communities and organisations’ & ‘Concluding remarks and summary’
You can also view the slides and how to get involved below:
- River Chess – review and look forward – slide deck. Please contact us to receive a copy (PDF).
- River Chess – next steps – how to get involved
Key challenges the £3million project is tackling include improving flow and water quality in the Chess and managing invasive species.
Affinity Water shared updates of its investigations into the impacts of abstractions and the progress of its water efficiency campaign. The company will work with the SWC partners to implement its river restoration plans in Spring 2022, to help improve the ecology of the river.
Meanwhile the Chilterns Conservation Board has reviewed river health across the catchment, including an assessment of monitoring activities and water quality in the River Chess. The group is currently developing plans for new Citizen Science activities and is looking for local volunteers to collect water samples from the River Chess.
Our Chief Officer, Tom Beeston said “how delighted he was to be involved in a partnership which will make a real difference to the River Chess. He reiterate the call out for others to get involved, be that personally using less water, becoming a volunteer, or even starting up a project to help save water in the Chess Catchment”.
We need your help! Please contact chessCS@chilternsaonb.org to express your interest and to find out about other volunteering activities on offer.
