Bread and water

Went to an interesting meeting on the subject of  waterways.

A woman  who has moved to live locally showed a film she'd made about the lost rivers and streams in London - not the well-known ones like the Fleet but smaller springs that were channelled underground in order to drain the land for building but which flood in periods of heavy rainfall (!) because there's nowhere for the water to go - and more often than not the water is heavily polluted by sewage. Rivers like the Quaggy in South London  and the Moselle in North London. (I'd never heard of either.) Local people campaigning for flood protection have got together with the water authorities to create wetland areas that will absorb the surplus water (minus the sewage) and additionally offer recreational and wildlife spaces in these urban areas. It was inspiring to see how passionate these concerned citizens have been in making this happen, and how thrilled they are with the results.

The film maker, now based in West Wales, was interested to find out how our local rivers and streams are doing.  Although they are not channelled underground most of them suffer from the problem that is besetting all waterways in Britain: pollution, caused not only by human sewage being released into rivers but by agricultural run-off (slurry from farm animal dung, mainly cows, pigs and chickens) some which is contaminated with veterinary medication. The consequence is there are too many bacteria taking up oxygen in the water for fish and other aquatic creatures to survive. It's not an easy problem to tackle in an area where farming is the traditional way of life. (Nevertheless this discussion has been taking place in several communities roundabout.)

https://www.sas.org.uk/water-quality/water-quality-facts-and-figures/

And the loaf? Just my usual and the only picture I appear to have taken today.