Loss of Combe Mill as an educational resource

Situated on a picturesque reach of the River Evenlode, Combe Mill has been used as an ‘aquatic classroom’ for more than 10 years by the Evenlode Catchment Partnership (ECP), with the Combe Mill Citizen Science (COMICS) Hub established early in 2015.

As well as providing valuable monitoring data, the site has played host to numerous groups of young people from primary to secondary age. They have benefited from the hands-on learning that this outstanding outdoor facility has provided. Additionally, in a groundbreaking initiative, trainee teachers used the site to understand river biology and dynamics as part of their training in geography and biology. 

Educators from Cotswold National Landscape, working with the ECP, designed bespoke training packages for all ages of students, delivering them in the river and adjacent classroom facility. Typically, young people learnt the science of river flies, river flows, habitat and water quality. Ironically, it was the latter that sealed the demise of this treasured outdoor laboratory.

Against a background of continued decline in river water quality, due largely to the dumping of untreated sewage from Thames Water sewage treatment works into the River Evenlode (a total of nearly 17,000 hours or 708 days, much of it illegal, in 2024), the ECP took the sad decision that Combe Mill was no longer a safe site to use for river education. Concerns were raised about elevated levels of faecal bacteria in the river, which have the potential to cause serious illness if ingested.

Students took their concerns about the state of the Evenlode to the heart of government, presenting postcards to the Minister for Water and Flooding, Emma Hardy.

Despite receiving a delegation of concerned local children in Whitehall last year, what have Minister Hardy and her Defra colleagues done to halt the decline in the Evenlode’s water quality?

If the government won’t act, how are we to achieve a safe future for our children?

The poor water quality of the Evenlode has also had financial consequences for Combe Mill itself. In an email to local MP Callum Miller earlier this year highlighting the water quality issues, Peter Trowles the director of the Combe Mill society said, ‘we wanted to make you aware that the failure to treat sewage waste adequately also has a real financial impact on small businesses like ours. Over the coming season we will lose around £900 of income, which for us is significant‘. 

Thames Water, a former member and funder of the ECP, has been aware of mounting concerns regarding the damaging impact of their untreated sewage discharges on the water quality of the Evenlode for more than a decade. Despite this, they chose not to invest as required in their sewage works and infrastructure, instead prioritising payment of dividends to shareholders and bondholders within their labyrinthine company structure. The company reneged on the delivery of a number of upgrades to sewage treatment works, including vital improvements at Moreton-in-Marsh and Milton-under-Wychwood. Earlier this year, the company was fined more than £100 million by Ofwat for its mis-management of numerous sewage treatment works. They are also currently being investigated by Ofwat for failing to deliver on time more than 100 similar projects in their region and by the Environment Agency for alleged multiple illegal discharges of untreated sewage.         

Ann Berkeley of the ECP said, ‘Thames Water shareholders’ greed has not only condemned our rivers to decades of poor water quality and risked the health of local residents, it has now taken away the future for so many of the area’s young people. Combe Mill was loved by so many who used it. They and those that follow them will be deprived of the simple pleasures of playing and learning in natural clean water. Despite receiving a delegation of concerned local students in Whitehall, minister Hardy and her Defra colleagues have singularly failed to halt the decline in the Evenlode’s water quality. They have betrayed the trust of these young people and sold their futures to a bunch of uncaring shareholders.’