Thames Water: inside the crisis

 

Greetings!   Did I waste two hours of my life watching the BBC documentary Thames Water: inside the crisis? Well, not exactly because I managed to waste a quarter of that time doing battle with the Dominos pizza home delivery app. Normally such technological infractions drive me to despair but that particular website detour provided a welcome distraction from the tedium and less than insightful nature of the show. But enough of the TV critic in me. What did the two part programme tell us about Thames Water and their part in river pollution?   My overwhelming sense was that the further you went down the Thames Water employee food chain the better the understanding of the issues and true cost of the company as a serial polluter. The CEO, Chris Weston, was a truly worthless individual who appeared to have only one set of clothes, grubby jeans and tatty polo shirt sometimes complemented by a naff gilet worn over the nine months of filming. If he was trying to save his £2.5m annual salary and £195K quarterly bonus for things other than clothes or a decent haircut the money was certainly not spent on improving his inspirational qualities, leadership skills or ability to divine exactly why his company was fast disappearing down the drain.      Click here .... to watch

 

Oh, how he and his hapless PR sidekick Caroline raged again Ofwat, the press, citizen scientists and just about anyone else who had the temerity to point out the manifest failings of Thames Water. Could Chris and Caroline not see the failings? Apparently not, which is in complete contrast to the boots on the ground, employees with 20-30 years service who ‘got’ the failing of the infrastructure, seemingly genuinely upset and frustrated at not being given the resources to make things right.   What also struck me early on was nearly every asset of Thames Water, be it a building, item of plant or facility was decrepit, rundown, ill cared for or simply just plain dirty. The only thing scruffier was the CEO himself. I think it talks volumes of the culture of Thames Water that everyone has to live in this maelstrom of decay when part of what is required to make incremental improvements is not money but leadership and attention to detail. It was telling that 26 year old Josh, star of the first episode as the site manager of a giant sewage facility in west London, was genuinely liked by his battle weary work force as he got his hands dirty trying to keep the show on the road. It was telling that two years into the job he left (the fifth to vacate the post in 8 years) heading for a new job, frying fan and fire anyone, at Southern Water.   My conclusion is that Thames Water, whilst obviously too big to fail is equally too big to succeed. Unless there is a CEO out there with Herculean ability a water company that stretches from the badlands of East London to the rarified  elite of the Cotswolds in the west, with 18 million customers in between, cannot be run as a single entity. The Thames might be the river that runs through it but that geographical link needs to be severed.

 

 

I am excited for the season ahead   As Fishing Breaks embarks on its 36th season I should by rights be a jaded misery; the truth is I have rarely been more excited.   Yes, we continue to be assailed by governments apparently incapable of the simple task of keeping rivers clean. However, maybe Mother Nature has heard my prayers, dowsing the chalk downlands with two years of record rainfall. The word full does really not do justice to the state of the chalkstreams that are running fast and clear with, somewhere in that giant chalk sponge, trillions of gallons of pure water held in geological readiness to keep the rivers supplied to the end of the season and well beyond.   Why am I excited? Well, to state the bleedin’ obvious we are nothing without water. It is the life blood that cleanses the river and stimulates the whole ecological totem from bugs the size of a speck to the oldest, wiliest fish in the river. Aside from river beds so bright you will need Polaroids to shield your eyes, the most visible benefit will be a spike the wild fish population on the back of clean spawning gravel and egg survival.

 

Dawn at Kanara on the River Itchen   Are there any downsides? My only real black cloud is the lack of river weed ranunculus. Last year we were overrun whereas this year on those same stretches it is almost completely absent right now. I cannot offer you an easy explanation; normally lots of winter water equals lots of weed. But there is some research that indicates this water buttercup plant has a cyclical growth pattern peaking every sixth year. It will be back but on some beats not until midsummer.   Finally, if you are worried about bank conditions it is nothing like last year. If you recall some River Test catchment beats such as Middleton Estate and Upper Clatford were underwater in May and often treacherous on rivers elsewhere. Having walked both the aforementioned this week we have no such difficulties and will open in May as planned.     Above: Hatch Pool at Middleton Estate on the River Test Below: Mill Pond at Nether Wallop Mill       Fly Fishing Film Tour is back in town   For those of you with pre-Covid memories you might recall we hosted the Fly Fishing Film Tour as part of the One Fly Festival. Sadly, the One Fly is no more but I am delighted to say the Tour is back with screenings in England and Scotland.   The Tour kicks off with two screenings in Stockbridge 31/March, before heading to London 2/April at the Prince Charles cinema just off Leicester Square which has great memories as the place we held the the premiere of CHALK. After that, between 5-14/April, the FFFT takes in Penrith, Kelso, Glasgow, Bakewell and Manchester.   As ever, it will be lots of adrenaline and bending rods in many far flung and exotic locations as you will see from the trailer…. I am pleased to see word of the FFFT is deservedly spreading with screenings in 14 countries including cities such as Bangkok and Cape Town. My only slight niggle is that we lack British representation. Come on native film makers is there not a heart pumping story to be told of Scottish salmon or English brown trout?   Tickets are available for all shows here …… and drop into the Orvis Stockbridge store for a free beer

 

 

John Bailey reports from the River Wye   So, my second year with Fishing Break’s esteemed clients finished once the bell chimed midnight on March 14th and the coarse river season drew to its close. As ever, there’s a whole gamut of feelings. A tinge of relief, time to clean out the Land Rover, sort out the shed. Happiness at not setting the alarm. A wave of nostalgia at the thought of another year well lived and gone for good. Memories of friends made, methods explored, fish conquered. Some time to reflect on mistakes made but triumphs pulled off. Excitement over plans for 2025/26, God willing. New water to explore, new methods to perfect, new people to meet and old friends to enjoy.   Most of the season gone has been good news. We know all of us that the Wye has its issues and that were I just a salmon man again, then the future would be unutterably bleak. But the chub are bigger than the Wye has ever seen them, certainly in my experience and in any recorded history I can find. The barbel too. They are bigger, in wonderful condition and my suspicion is that a 14 pounder is soon to fall. The pike appear like monsters from a nightmare , we’ve seen them just under “thirty”, and four pound perch are almost but not quite everyday captures. So, for the most part it has been rod bending, reel screaming excitement.

 

Spectacular River Wye perch   I’ve been happy to see the Wye cleaner and clearer these last few months than it has been for two years. My thoughts are that fly caught barbel might possibly be on the cards again come June/July. Bouncing baits should be thrillingly productive and I really want to get more trotting into our schedules. Hooking a barbel or big chub at fifty yards range really is as good a sensation as it gets. Touch ledgering is always a must experience but I have a yen for a little Tenkara fun as the summer warms up. I have plenty of plans, not least for the backend of next season. I have tended to draw barbel fishing to a slow halt as November draws on but if the river is a decent height and if the temperatures hold up, I’ve found this December and March that the fishing can be spectacularly good with fish glowing with health. Sessions are short but action packed and I’m planning to keep top beats ticking over next back end.   The diary for A Day on the River Wye with John Bailey is now open. For more information click here ….

 

 

 

Quiz   Back to the normal random collection of questions inspired by the events that took place on this date in history or topics in the Newsletter.   1)     Which Tory minister, later leader of the party, was in charge of water privatisation in 1989?   2)     Are perch classified as carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores?   3)     The Latin name Tamesis referred to what river?   Answers are at the bottom of this Newsletter.

 

Have a good weekend.  Best wishes,

 

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

 

 

1)     Michael (now Lord) Howard 2)     Carnivores (meat eaters). The other fish classifications are herbivores (plant eaters) and omnivores (meat and plant-based foods). 3)     River Thames