There is a River Lea Catchment Partnership Meeting on Wednesday 20th March 2024, 6.00pm – 9.30pm at Welwyn Civic Centre.

For further details see Lea Conference Invite & Agenda

A lecture on the reintroduction of Eurasian Beavers to Britain and their role creating diverse wetlands while helping to reduce flooding will take place on Wednesday 28 February at 8pm in Welwyn Civic Centre.

 For details click here

Around the country 48 local nature recovery strategies (LNRS) are currently being prepared by the local authorities alongside other partners and stakeholders.  To find out more click here

There is a vacancy for a Chalk Rivers and Farm Advisory Officer, which has been externally funded by the Environment Agency for a 3 year fixed term period.  Details of the job and how to apply are here

The Autumn 2023 Water Quality Update for the River Lea and tributaries can be read here

The Winter 2023 newsletter can be read here

Catchment Sensitive Farming will be holding an event for farmers in the Upper Lee and Stort / Lower Lee and Lakes catchments on Friday 12 January 2024.

The INNS Out scheme which covers Affinity Water’s supply Area is now open for applications. Information can be obtained here.

 Anglian Water will be opening their INNS Grant Scheme for applications at the beginning of November. Their scheme is hosted on the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation website, where all details of the scheme and application forms will be located.

 Applications will be considered for funding of INNS control activities in 2024.

There is a Herts & Middlesex water vole and invasive non-native species conference on 2nd November 2023.  Click on this link to register

For the water quality update for the Lea catchment summer 2023 see here

The annual Riverfly meeting of the Herts & Chilterns Riverfly hub was held on Sun10th September at the Boxmoor Trust. This event was attended by about 38 Riverfly monitors from the hub. 

PDFs of the talks can be viewed here - PDF1 and PDF2

Thames Water have announced that a new ‘report a problem online’ tool has gone live on their website.  To access click here.

To view the newsletter click here

Upcoming webinar to discuss the revised draft plan  - 10.30am to 12 noon on Wednesday, 20 September.

To view click here

 

To view the newsletter click here

The Upper Lea Catchment Partnership gathered on 29 Nov 2022 to recap on progress made over the year towards improving the state of the river and its valley.

A round of catchment partnership meetings were held in March 2021, minutes now available to view.

Watch the world's first live investigative documentary attempting to find out who is polluting our rivers and why nobody is stopping them.

Storm overflow disharge into rivers occurs when sewage treatment works experience maximum capacity volumes, often following heavy rain events. The Event Duration Monitoring dataset for 2020 has now been published here. This relates to the performance of storm overflows, provided by Water and Sewerage Companies for the 2020 regulatory annual return.

Join the Ver Valley Society for World Rivers Day on Sunday 22nd September in Verulamium Park, and join the protest against the disappearance of Hertfordshrie's Chalk Rivers!

Vote for River Lea Catchment projects, nominated for funding in the Affinity Water community grants programme.

The Government has launched a new grant scheme to help deliver improvements to the water environment over the next 3 years.

We are delighted to report that the project to reduce the erosion of the southern river bank in The Meads at Wheathampstead has been completed.

Patrick McNeill, River Champion by the River Lea

A Wheathampstead volunteer has been awarded the title 'River Champion' by The River Restoration Centre for his work on the River Lea.

Deflectors on River Lea

A group of local volunteers have worked hard to improve the habitat of the River Lea over the last year.

Brash buildout construction

The Wheathampstead Open Space Volunteers have been making significant progress in delivering the restoration plan for the River Lea as it flows through East Lane Carpark in Wheathampstead.

Bags of Help logo

Tesco's Bags of Help grant programme, administered by Groundwork, is open for applications from the 18th April.

Pollution in River Lea

Pollution entering the River Lea in Wheathampstead first reported in January continues to enter the river.

Caseless caddisfly larvae

On Good Friday, Riverfly monitors for the Upper Lea David and Charlotte had their best sample yet.

Partnership website training

Eleven representatives from the partners working across the Lea Catchment recently attended training to edit the catchment website.

Are you involved in an innovative and exciting environmental project in Hertfordshire? The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) Hertfordshire branch, is inviting nominations for the annual Rural Living Awards.

Ever fancied finding out how much water you use in the shower? This is your chance.

Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust hosted a successful riverfly conference with the Herts and Chilterns Riverfly Hub.

On 19th November 2015, WWF-UK, The Angling Trust and Fish Legal scored a huge victory in protecting our rivers.

New rules have been introduced to simplify the way septic tanks and small sewage treatment plants are regulated in England, protecting the environment and improving water quality.

Elver passing up eel pass

A new project, to install an eel pass, has been added to the catchment plan for the Upper Lea.

Design by LTD Design Consultants and build by Garganey Consulting.