Habitats

Thankfully, today there is an increasing interest in caring for our lakes and rivers. Many trusts, groups, projects and plans are positively bubbling away with ongoing efforts to help restore and care for our freshwater habitats. CCW is actively supporting movements like these to ultimately conserve the freshwater environment for the country.

For example, several rivers trusts have recently formed in Wales with the objective of restoring river habitat.

Many lakes have set-up advisory bodies to agree on best management, such as the Llangorse Lake Advisory Group – while local Biodiversity Action Plan groups also have a responsibility to care for some lake types.

Keep Wales Tidy also runs the Afonydd Glan (Clean Rivers) project, specifically targeted at removing rubbish from rivers.

The strategies are beginning to focus. River and lake conservation is being formalised by the setting up of River Basin Management Plans under the Water Framework Directive.  

As Europe-wide directives, the Habitats Directive joins the Water Framework Directive in a bid to safeguard the quality of our freshwaters.

CCW is working with partner organisations such as the Environment Agency to ensure that these activities are properly and responsibly managed. This is primarily done through a system of licences and consents – although mere administration is not always enough to conserve our irreplaceable rivers and lakes.

Small-scale management and restoration are also essential. For example, keeping livestock from trampling and overgrazing riverbanks and lake margins helps prevent excessive erosion.

This means working closely with partners, and CCW liases with many individuals and organisations through management agreements, grant aid and other means to protect these vibrant aquatic systems.

The great challenge for managing the freshwater environment is catchment management – making sure that all of us carry out our activities in a way that does not harm our freshwater surroundings.

All of us can indeed play a part in this – by making sure that drains and septic tanks are properly maintained, switching to less harmful low phosphate detergents, or simply by supporting the many groups who are working hard to ensure our freshwaters keep their sparkle for generations to come.