A TRUST concerned with with river health across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire has had its mission hampered after bags of lime were stolen from its storage shed.
The West Wales Rivers Trust is small charity that relies on donations and project funding to undertake any of the vital works to return rivers to good health.
The Trust have been working with the backing of Carmarthenshire County Council, Natural Resources Wales and Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water on the Doethie Restoration Project with major environmental improvements already becoming apparent, including significant improvements in water quality and pH leading to improvements in the river invertebrate populations and the number of juvenile salmon and sea trout or sewin present.
This particular stretch of river on Carmarthenshire/Ceredigion border has been suffering with acidity, exacerbated by conifer plantation in the surrounding area. Acidic conditions do not allow many aquatic species to live, let alone flourish, so the Trust have been systematically applying lime to the waterway in order to bring the pH up to a level at which they can survive. Unfortunately, when the team of volunteers went to apply the latest dose of lime they found that a significant amount of lime has been taken from their stores.
Technical Advisor to the Trust, Frank Jones, issued this statement on behalf of the Trust. It reads: “The West Wales Rivers Trust (WWRT) carried out its final 2018 lime dosing of the River Doethie (River Tywi catchment) on the 16th and 17th Oct. This important project (supported by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Natural Resources Wales and Carmarthenshire County Council) is successfully counteracting the acidic waters of the Doethie allowing the successful spawning of salmon and sea trout. We were however shocked to find that a substantial amount of lime had been stolen from our lime storage compound which is deep inside forestry in the upper Doethie catchment.
“As a result we were short of lime to complete the dosing of all the planned sites in the catchment.
“This should not prejudice the overall success of the restoration but it now means that we have to buy additional lime for our next dosing planned for spring 2019.
“The cost of the theft was about £2,000 which is ill afforded because of the limited resources available to the Trust which is a charitable organization.
“The crime has been reported to the Dyfed Powys police who have referred the matter for investigation by their Rural Crime Unit.
“The WWRT is not the only victim of this crime, it also affects the local community by the threat posed to a project aimed to restore the once thriving salmon and sea trout fishery of the river Doethie.”
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