How much damage does a sewage treatment works do to a river?
Our starting point is to look at the course of the river as it journeys north-eastwards from Chartham, via Canterbury, to Westbere, Grove Ferry, and beyond. Below Ashford, in this middle section, the river cuts through the Chalk of the North Downs. Freshwater springs recharge the river, giving it typical chalk stream characteristics – cool, clear water, with seasonal baseflow discharge, rising and falling steadily with the Chalk aquifer water table. In this short journey through Canterbury, the river passes through first a rural landscape of grazing marsh, arable farmland and fruit farms, then on to the more heavily urbanised land use of Canterbury itself, collecting treated sewage effluent from four sewage works. Both heavy and light industry are present here, and the river passes close to waste disposal and older brownfield sites (some of which are redeveloped). Below Fordwich, unspoilt parts of the grazing marsh and reedbeds are under legal protection status (SPA, NNR, SSSI and Rams
