Cleaning The Wandle August 2016

King George's Park. Wandsworth. Sunday 14-August-2016.

A half day of volunteering as we had friends round for Sunday lunch. Not that this was a problem as we have been in this stretch several times over the last few years and there wasn't so much rubbish. In fact this is an annual event: January 2012, April 2013, October 2014, I must have missed 2015, and now this year.

New yellow gloves. Hurrah! Some of the old ones were getting a bit tatty. And some new litter pickers.

In the water the level was really high despite recent good weather. The reason, apparently, is that most of the water comes not from the springs at the source of the river but Beddington Sewage Treatment Works. Thank goodness for EU urban waste water directive which means it's OK to go in the river..

Back in January 2012 we hauled out 14 shopping trolleys. Thanks to the annual visits there was a lot less hardware and more general litter; the lunchtime haul:

Given the good turnout and the level of rubbish I left at half time with a clear conscience.

The Wandle Trust is an environmental charity dedicated to restoring and maintaining the health of the River Wandle and its catchment. They hold community river cleanups on the second Sunday of every month, up and down this unique urban chalkstream – pulling out everything from shopping trolleys to shotguns, and improving the environment for birds, fish, insects and local people. For more visit: http://www.wandletrust.org/.