Christchurch Harbour ‘dying’ says Christchurch Harbour & Marine Society in plea for BCP Council to give it protection order
CHRISTCHURCH Harbour will die if people do not act now to save it, according to a campaign group which says it is being destroyed by sewage pollution and other contaminants.
The Christchurch Harbour & Marine Society (CH&MS) is demanding BCP Council puts the area under a protection order immediately to ensure it will “be there for future generations”.
Martin Stewart, chair of the group, told the A&T: “If we do not act now, Christchurch Harbour will in time cease to exist. Phosphate and nitrate levels in its waters are off the scale.
“Christchurch Harbour is only little but there are big sewage treatment plants discharging raw waste into the two large rivers – the Stour and Avon – which run into it when there is heavy rain.”
He added: “Canoeists have told us how they have pulled up raw sewage with their paddles. Fishermen tell us that fish stocks have plummeted. In time there will be nothing left in the harbour but filthy, dirty, polluted water.”
“We don’t think it’s too dramatic to say that it is acting as the cesspit for the BCP.”
Mr Stewart, who owns Stewarts Garden Centres, has been joined in his quest by other leading businessmen, local anglers, commercial fishermen, yacht clubs, ornithology groups and water-sport users.
He said: “I am a paddleboarder, and I see for myself how much worse the pollution is getting. Children swim off Avon Beach, risking becoming ill. The trouble is that a lot of this pollution is invisible, so people just do not realise how bad it is.
“Poole Harbour is under a protection order and that is what we want for Christchurch Harbour. Poole only has the River Frome flowing into it, the two going into the much smaller Christchurch Harbour are increasingly polluted.”
The organisation has been testing water samples in the two rivers and harbour regularly for two years and Mr Stewart says the findings are “frightening”.
He said: “The River Avon has high levels of nitrates from the water run-off from agricultural land and the Stony Lane sewage treatment plant simply cannot cope with what it has to deal with now.
“Whenever it rains heavily, the outflow just above Christchurch pumps raw sewage into the Avon. The Stour crosses the whole of the BCP conurbation including the Berry Hill sludge treatment centre at Throop and the Holdenhurst sewage treatment plant as well as many contaminated landfill sites.
“As a result, the phosphate levels in it are really high and rising. If this continues our beautiful harbour will contain no life at all.”
Tomorrow (Thursday) Charles Watson, founder of River Action and organiser of the March for Clean Water which saw 15,000 march through London, is the guest speaker at a meeting of CH&MS at Stewarts Garden Centre, Christchurch.
Mr Watson, who lives in Boldre, will be talking about the threats that Christchurch Harbour faces and sharing how the local community can “make a positive difference”.
Doors open at 6.30pm.
