Friends of River Cam prepare for solstice

It’s coming up to summer solstice (June 21), traditionally a celebration of the longest day of the year – the day when the rights of the River Cam are

The past year has seen the scales fall from people’s eyes on water. In 2022 raw sewage was discharged into the UK’s coastline for nearly 8,500 hours. Closer to home, every single one of England’s rivers fails to meet government guidelines – partly to do with sewage, but also because of agricultural and chemical pollution.

In April this year the Cambridge Independent reported that raw sewage was dumped into rivers more than 16,000 times in 2022 by Anglian Water, according to shocking figures published by the Environment Agency. The sewage was poured into local waterways for more than 89,000 hours, the data shows. But that is only one part of the threat to the region’s waterways, the other being overabstraction from the chalk streams around Cambridge, and the looming prospect of drought even as developers are looking to Cambridge to support tens of thousands of new homes within the next five years.

The pace of growth has long threatened to outstrip the region’s ability to support even those already living here. Earlier this year, levels of phosphate pollution in parts of the River Cam were 70 times higher than the acceptable limit, according to laboratory tests of water samples taken by environmentalists. Phosphate is contained in human sewage, detergents and other household substances.

For Friends of the Cam, it’s a busy time. This will be the third year the environmental group declares the rights of the River Cam on the solstice. There’s no doubt the river needs protection, says one of the group’s founding members, Tony Booth.

“We hold it on the summer solstice to encourage the recognition of the fundamental significance of rivers in the flourishing of life on Earth,” says Tony. “We were the first group to declare the rights of a river in the UK and others have followed since: the Wharfe, and the Wensum, with groups in Lewes and Sheffield following soon. Our work has led to invitations to be part of research projects on river rights in the UK and Northern Europe. Members of the House of Lords – Natalie Bennet, Jenny Jones, and John Bird – made contact with us and visited for further discussion. We continue to develop relationships with other river groups across the country.”

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He added that local politics now has to take the situation on board because “we supported one of our steering group – Jean Glasberg – to be elected as city councillor for Newnham and will have a champion for the river on the council”.

The community action group prefers to educate and inform people of the importance of clean water to our wellbeing, but it has also shown itself capable of mounting effective – and entertaining – protests.

“We held a protest at Anglian Water – Osprey Consortium – headquarters in Huntingdon with giant emoji poos,” says Tony, “changing their slogan from ‘love every drop’ to ‘love every plop’. We continue to clean up Jesus Ditch from bicycles, shopping trollies, bottles and cans.

“We connect our concerns about the river to the massive and unsustainable growth in the area which is adding to the stress on water supply and increase in sewage pollution. We have challenged policy makers and NGOs promoting the ideas of biodiversity net gain and doubling nature. Our position is that both involve false accounting.

“We are campaigning against the busways which will directly impact on the river near Nine Wells and involve the gratuitous use of vast quantities of concrete with their embodied CO2 emissions. We are opposing the shifting of Anglian Water’s sewage works across the A14 to Horningsea to release for development land they own with the city council and the University. We have campaigned against the University and Colleges focussing on their roles as landowners and developers rather than as educators and carers for the flourishing of their students.”

Tony is enthusiastic about being able to encourage change but says it’s not taking place at the pace required.

“Regulation remains inadequate so that water companies can claim to be investing in improvements in water quality while insisting that customers will pay for them,” he notes. “Above all we know that the climate and biodiversity emergencies are still accelerating out of control. We refuse to relinquish hope, however, and will continue to make our contribution to a global movement for the defence of nature, marking it each year at the summer solstice.”

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Another co-founder of Rights of the River Cam, Terry Macalister, added: “Rights of the River is the annual opportunity for all of us to come together and celebrate life and nature.

“It’s also a chance to remember that clean water sustains all of us and should be nurtured for the common good not controlled by profiteering corporates which hide their greed behind greenwashing adverts and local sponsorship.”

Also on Tuesday is a cacao ceremony at Magog Down. Run by chocolatier Gloria Martinez, aka Mama Bombon, the event includes an open circle ceremony with organic ceremonial-grade Guatemalan Cacao, a guide meditation, and music and dance.

Be open to a transformational and magical event!’ says Gloria.

Search ‘Summer solstice cacao ceremony’ on Facebook for details.