Climate change.
Protecting our rivers from the effects of climate change is a priority for the trust.
Climate change and species extinction are intrinsically linked and we are already seeing the multiple effects in our own catchment.
The impacts of a changing climate will be felt first — and most dramatically — through our rivers and water resources. We are already seeing this in our own river catchment. There is the potential for disaster at both ends of the scale: predictions suggest than the frequency and severity of both flooding and droughts will increase as our climate continues to heat up and weather patterns change.
More extreme rainfall
Both in terms of volume and intensity, leading to flood, excessive soil loss and more frequent discharges of untreated sewage into our rivers from treatment works.
Extreme & prolonged droughts
Leading to detrimental or fatal conditions for fish, especially cold water species such as the Arctic charr.
Abstraction
More demand on already low river levels during the summer from agriculture, industry and humans. Our rivers are already heavily abstracted ( water taken from them) during the summer months and the environment often comes low on priorities during a drought.
Decline in biodiversity
Cardiff university have found a sharp decline in some specialist organisms in Welsh streams over the past 30 years. . Insects are a great ‘canary in the coal mine’ monitor of our river health. often the first to fall victim or warming waters, smothering algal blooms- they have a huge impact down the food chain.
Warmer Autumns
Salmon and trout are genetically programmed to spawn as the water temperature falls away in October, November and December. If waters do not cool quickly enough then they cannot spawn at all.
Changing marine conditions.
Changing currents and marine conditions affect already struggling species such as Salmon, eels and lamprey that migrate between river and sea.