Richard Foord helps launch campaign to revive the River Otter

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, has joined forces with the Otter Valley Association in a new campaign - #ReviveTheRiverOtter - to restore the health of the River Otter.

The middle and lower reaches of the Otter are now so contaminated with sewage-related pollutants that it's classed in the bottom 20 per cent of rivers in England for water quality.

For the last four months, the Otter Valley Association has mobilised 48 volunteers, who have been monitoring the river’s health every two weeks. In the latest round of testing, phosphate levels were found to be over four times the upper safe limit, peaking at six times just downstream of the major sewage works.

Richard says:

“The river Otter should be crystal clear and teeming with fish and invertebrates, but instead, the middle and lower sections are murky, slimy and sick. This is largely due to untreated or inadequately treated sewage being endlessly discharged in the river, by South West Water.

“We felt we had no option to but to launch #ReviveTheRiverOtter to stop SWWs appalling use of the River Otter as a free extension of their sewage infrastructure. This is just the start. We’ll keep going until we succeed in getting the investment the River Otter desperately needs to thrive once again.