From The Times: July 8, 1924
The hon secretary of the Kennet Valley Fisheries Association has issued the second annual report of that most useful body working to check the pollution of the River Kennet and its tributary streams.
The association now represents 31 fishery owners, 46 fishing tenants, and four angling societies. The report shows that great success has attended efforts to induce the road authorities to use innocuous bitumen instead of deadly tar on highways that drain into the rivers. Various works have been inspected, and suggestions made for improving the treatment of washings and sewage.
Perhaps of greatest general interest is the description of the treatment of effluent from the paper mills at Thatcham. First, the large particles are filtered off by passing the effluent through flannel; next, it is allowed to sediment in settling tanks; and, lastly, it is passed into metal cylinders where it undergoes bacterial treatment which agglutinates the finest particles. A clear fluid results, which can be discharged into the river without harm.
The bacterial process can take as long as three months before satisfactory effluents are given, so that although a small experimental plant gave satisfactory results, it is not certain that the full-scale plant will behave similarly. In future it is hoped that paper mills will be able to deal with their effluents with little delay.
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When reference was last made in these columns to the work of the Kennet Valley Fisheries Association a number of correspondents around the country wrote for further information, so that it would seem clear that there is a general desire to do something to solve the practical problem of saving our freshwater fisheries. It may be suggested that the first step is to get into touch with the principal fishery owners, and to form protection societies, with a view to cooperative action.
The law has been strengthened in regard to pollution, but experience seems to indicate that a great deal can be done without litigation if the matter is gone about in the right way. In the matter of pollution it is undoubtedly true that “evil is wrought by want of thought, as well as want of heart.” Many persons are quite unaware of the damage done to the flora and fauna of streams by the careless introduction into them of chemicals and waste products.
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