One of the biggest threats to Chasewater and its wildlife is POLLUTION.  It can happen at any time and will not necessarily give off a lot of smell or smoke - so if you notice ANYTHING different that looks like it may have been caused by some foreign substance coming into the water or on the land around the Site, then IMMEDIATELY PHONE THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY'S 24 HOUR FREEPHONE INCIDENT LINE which is:    0800 80 70 60
THEY WILL TAKE IT SERIOUSLY and ask them to report what action they take to you and let us all know.   If it turns out to be nothing harmful, don't worry - the EA won't prosecute you for a false alarm if you genueinely thought an incident had occurred.

We need a volunteer please to write something about how important it is that we keep Chasewater free from pollution.  We had scares when Bleak House (now named Cuckoo Bank) was being mined and polluted water was draining off into Chasewagter big pool.  We managed to persuade the operators to put in systems to stop it happening.   But we need to be ever vigilant to make sure there is no other serious incident that could destroy whole habitats and ecosystems.
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You will be pleased to hear that we have a new member, Andrew Edwards, who has recently graduated in Environmental Management and has a particular interest in water pollution, water quality, fish populations and aquatic invertebrates.   He will be helping the Group with monitoring the many water areas of Chasewater and Cuckoo Bank which will give us some much needed information about what is happening in the water.   We hope to organise some sessions when other members can come along and help and learn about how important it is to keep our water clean and pollution free and learn how to identify a new and completely different world under the water.  (April 2005)