BBC Radio 4's long-running 'Face the Facts' programme to feature the Beane and Mimram!

The episode, to be broadcast on July 29th, focuses on the issue of over abstraction of our groundwater and the devastating impacts on our chalk rivers.

Face the Facts presenter John Waite visited the dried-up River Beane and the flowing River Mimram on Tuesday to record interviews with Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust's Charlie Bell, Dave Stimpson of the River Beane Restoration Association and Martin Salter, ex-MP and campaigns coordinator for the Angling Trust.  The interviewees discussed why we should care about chalk rivers, what makes them special, the impact of low flows on wildlife, the history of the abstractions and the complex web of issues involving environmental campaigners, water companies, statutory bodies and OFWAT.  Although recorded in Hertfordshire, the programme focuses on all the UK's chalk rivers.

The episode will be broadcast at 12:25 on 29th July, and repeated at 21:00 the following Sunday.  We will post a link to the programme here once it has been aired.