WELCOME TO THE RIVER DARENT - RISING IN WESTERHAM, KENT AND MEETING THE THAMES AT DARTFORD
Example of an artificial spring
What makes the River Darent special ?
- It supplies local population and parts of London with drinking water.
- In 1985 it was one of ten UK rivers likely to disappear.
- After considerable effort by the Environment Agency and water companies it still suffers from low flows and was once augmented by artificial springs, but these no longer operate.
- The Darent is a chalk stream which creates an unusually diverse habitat for wildlife and vegetation. There are only 210 in the world an 190 of them are in England.
- It provides fishing lakes which are potentially ideal for coarse fishing for leisure.
- It meanders through beautiful countryside and villages and delights residents and visitors.
URGENT - ACTION PLEASE
We are receiving reports related to fish in distress in the Darent due to low flows and the increased temperatures.
These have been reported to the Environment Agency.
If you witness dead fish or fish in distress, please report your incident directly to the EA on their emergency number - 0800 807060 - providing as much detail as you can.
PLEASE, please try to reduce your water consumption as much as you can, and ask your friends and neighbours to do the same. River levels are dropping every day. A lot of our residents still remember how whole sections of the Darent dried out during the 70s, 80s and early 90s. The whole ecology of the river is in danger again. Please don't assume we can manage without it. These days we understand that everything in nature is interconnected. Absolutely nothing can be independent, even us.
Or we should probably say, ESPECIALLY us.
These have been reported to the Environment Agency.
If you witness dead fish or fish in distress, please report your incident directly to the EA on their emergency number - 0800 807060 - providing as much detail as you can.
PLEASE, please try to reduce your water consumption as much as you can, and ask your friends and neighbours to do the same. River levels are dropping every day. A lot of our residents still remember how whole sections of the Darent dried out during the 70s, 80s and early 90s. The whole ecology of the river is in danger again. Please don't assume we can manage without it. These days we understand that everything in nature is interconnected. Absolutely nothing can be independent, even us.
Or we should probably say, ESPECIALLY us.
2022 Summer meeting in Shoreham
Tuesday 17th May from 6.30pm
at The Quadrangle, TN14 7RP
Presentations at 7.30 pm
Chris Gardner, Head of Science at The South East Rivers Trust
William Alexander, Castle Farm and Chair Kent NFU,
on the work of The Darent Valley Farming Cluster:
"a new collaboration to increase local biodiversity"
Directions: Driving north on the A225 from Otford turn left just opposite Fackenden Lane about half a mile before Shoreham Station
Walk by the riverbank and talk to Trevor Carman and committee members from 6.30pm
Non-members are welcome - please come along.
Download our Spring 2022 Newsletter here.
DRiPS is on Facebook - help us to help the river
Please follow "Darent River Preservation Society" on Facebook and share what you see happening on your stretch of the river.
Together we can all try to be "the voice of the river".
DRiPS is now on Twitter
Please follow us at @RiverDarent and join the conversation
Please follow "Darent River Preservation Society" on Facebook and share what you see happening on your stretch of the river.
Together we can all try to be "the voice of the river".
DRiPS is now on Twitter
Please follow us at @RiverDarent and join the conversation
CITIZEN SCIENCE - TWO FREE WORKSHOPS TO LEARN ABOUT THE RIVER
Take part in the new Darent Environmental Enhancement Programme
with Mark Gallant, NW Kent Countryside Partnership
Session 1: Ecology and management of chalk streams
Session 2: Invasive non-native species
Horton Kirby: May 4th and 20th (afternoons)
Shoreham: May 6th and 18th (afternoons)
Brasted: May 12th and 19th (afternoons)
Email mark.gallant@kent.gov.uk or call 07740 185228 to choose your venue and help to protect and enhance the River Darent
Take part in the new Darent Environmental Enhancement Programme
with Mark Gallant, NW Kent Countryside Partnership
Session 1: Ecology and management of chalk streams
Session 2: Invasive non-native species
Horton Kirby: May 4th and 20th (afternoons)
Shoreham: May 6th and 18th (afternoons)
Brasted: May 12th and 19th (afternoons)
Email mark.gallant@kent.gov.uk or call 07740 185228 to choose your venue and help to protect and enhance the River Darent
Like to know more about how rivers interact with groundwater?
Please watch this excellent video by GroundwaterUK
Please watch this excellent video by GroundwaterUK
Every summer we worry, could the Darent be in danger again ?
As of July 2022 aquifers are getting seriously depleted after very low winter and spring rainfall. Never forget that Kent is in a rain shadow and one of the most densely populated parts of the UK. DRIPS is always worried about the long-term future of the river. The water companies are too, but they have no legal power to interfere with planning policies.
Download the Autumn 2021 DRIPS newsletter here
Look at what the WWF has been saying about UK rivers
The WWF website here
Follow the WWF campaign for rivers at Westminster October 2017 HERE
and read a WWF blog on Chalk Streams by Charles Rangeley Wilson HERE
If you would like to know more about DRiPS, email us at darentdrips1985@gmail.com
"LOVE WATER" The Environment Agency asks us all to help.
Water is precious stuff and we're all treating it too casually
To watch Sir James Bevan (EA CEO) talking, click here
Water is precious stuff and we're all treating it too casually
To watch Sir James Bevan (EA CEO) talking, click here
See tips on saving water from WATERWISE www.waterwise.org.uk/save-water
DARENT and CRAY CATCHMENT IMPROVEMENT GROUPS
DRiPS is a member of the Darent Catchment Improvement Group and also attends the CRAY meetings. The "CIG" meetings are chaired by SERT and NWKCP.
To read more, go to the Darent and Cray Partnership website https://darentpartnership.org.uk, or the SE Rivers Trust website at www.southeastriverstrust.org. To read about the North West Kent Countryside Partnership go to www.nwkcp.org
River Darent - Living on the Edge ?
The Environment Agency has produced a document for riparian owners and managers.
Click on Living on the Edge to download the pdf.
The River Restoration Centre, to which we are affiliated, also publishes regular bulletins.
Click here for the Jan 2014 bulletin on "Back to Nature" flood management
The Darent Catchment Improvement Group, organised by the North West Kent Countryside Partnership in conjunction with the Environment Agency, are keen for everyone to get familiar with the river and to know h what you think would help improve it. Visit the NWKCP website to read about the Darent and the Cray.
The Environment Agency has produced a document for riparian owners and managers.
Click on Living on the Edge to download the pdf.
The River Restoration Centre, to which we are affiliated, also publishes regular bulletins.
Click here for the Jan 2014 bulletin on "Back to Nature" flood management
The Darent Catchment Improvement Group, organised by the North West Kent Countryside Partnership in conjunction with the Environment Agency, are keen for everyone to get familiar with the river and to know h what you think would help improve it. Visit the NWKCP website to read about the Darent and the Cray.
COMPLETION OF THE DARENT ACTION PLAN
At the Society's Annual Meeting in Eynsford on Wednesday 17th April 2013 we reviewed and celebrated the completion of the Darent Action Plan - a historic landmark for the river. To read the chairman's report and see presentations from the Environment Agency and Southern Water, click here
To read the Spring 2013 edition of the Society's NewsFlow Newsletter, click here and here
To read the Spring 2013 edition of the Society's NewsFlow Newsletter, click here and here
HISTORY of the DROUGHT and The DARENT ACTION PLAN
Poster from campaign in 2012
The Darent River Preservation Society (DRiPS) was established in 1985 at which time there was often a dry river bed in Shoreham, Eynsford or Farningham, especially when rainfall was low. This was largely the result of over-extraction. Prompted by DRiPS, the Environment Agency and the various water authorities together drew up a scheme to help restore the river - the River Darent Action Plan. This strategy is helping the river to recover, so that it now has the chance to remain a priceless asset for everybody young and old alike – a place to walk, go bird-watching, paint, paddle or fish, or to just sit on the banks and let the world go by.
Today, stretches of the Darent lie undisturbed, and in these places the natural habitat of the river can be maintained, where fish, animals, plants and other wildlife can thrive in peace.
However, such optimism does not mean that the threats to the river’s health and well-being have disappeared – far from it. Housing development throughout the catchment is increasing to meet the demands of a burgeoning population.
We must all understand more about our rivers and learn to take more care of our water.
Today, stretches of the Darent lie undisturbed, and in these places the natural habitat of the river can be maintained, where fish, animals, plants and other wildlife can thrive in peace.
However, such optimism does not mean that the threats to the river’s health and well-being have disappeared – far from it. Housing development throughout the catchment is increasing to meet the demands of a burgeoning population.
We must all understand more about our rivers and learn to take more care of our water.
All about Aquifer Storage Recovery - what is ASR?
Aquifer Storage and Recovery is a system where at times of surplus, water is deliberately pumped into underground aquifers and stored there for subsequent abstraction. Thames Water has developed a trial scheme at Horton Kirby to store good quality water in the Lower Greensand aquifer which is separated from the Chalk aquifer by 69m of impermeable Gault Clay, thereby isolating the abstraction from the river. Read more...
It is a significant new development in helping to store our drinking water.
See Thames Water press release of March 2015 here.
WWTOnline press release here
Aquifer Storage and Recovery is a system where at times of surplus, water is deliberately pumped into underground aquifers and stored there for subsequent abstraction. Thames Water has developed a trial scheme at Horton Kirby to store good quality water in the Lower Greensand aquifer which is separated from the Chalk aquifer by 69m of impermeable Gault Clay, thereby isolating the abstraction from the river. Read more...
It is a significant new development in helping to store our drinking water.
See Thames Water press release of March 2015 here.
WWTOnline press release here
the European Water Framework Directive
It is highly laudable that the EU should set out plans for all the River Basins across Europe. But does one plan fit all? DRIPS feels that the European Water Framework Directive could impact badly on rivers such as the Darent that suffer from low flows.The WFD states that fish must be able to migrate freely (and we agree with that in principle), and it requires the Environment Agency (EA) to review all impoundments on the river and to remove ones it deems unnecessary. There are approximately 29 significant weirs or sluices on the Darent and many minor ones. The EA says it intends to remove all structures which impede the migration of fish. The alternative would be to install fish passes, but these are too expensive.
DRIPS does not believe the river at present is capable of supporting a self-replicating fishery and will not be able to do so until there is a more constant minimum flow. Removing these structures will only exacerbate the low flow to which the river is prone. In all of the surveys carried out on the Darent over many years – including the current Darent Action Plan – not one of them suggests that the removal of impounding structures would benefit the river.
Clearly, the Darent is not the Danube: DRIPS is anxious to raise public awareness and understand how the WFD will be interpreted.
In January 2013, our chairman wrote a letter to parish councils which will also be of interest to riparian owners. Click here to download.
DRIPS does not believe the river at present is capable of supporting a self-replicating fishery and will not be able to do so until there is a more constant minimum flow. Removing these structures will only exacerbate the low flow to which the river is prone. In all of the surveys carried out on the Darent over many years – including the current Darent Action Plan – not one of them suggests that the removal of impounding structures would benefit the river.
Clearly, the Darent is not the Danube: DRIPS is anxious to raise public awareness and understand how the WFD will be interpreted.
In January 2013, our chairman wrote a letter to parish councils which will also be of interest to riparian owners. Click here to download.
The Darent River Preservation Society is Reg Charity No 1002300
