WATER—CLEAN AND DIRTY • River Friend Series BOOK 7 • ISBN 978 1 9162096 7 1

Description

WATER—CLEAN AND DIRTY • River Friend Series BOOK 7 • ISBN 978 1 9162096 7 1 • By Sylvia M. Haslam & Tina Bone
A5 Paperback 66pp. (98 Illustrations)

This book is about the chemical nature of water, clean or dirty, and also what this does to the plants which might—or do—grow in it. There is much chemical variability, so can streams be classed on their nutrients? Yes—by using reference plant communities. The habitat chooses the plants to grow in it from amongst those whose seeds are present. The majestic Thames, the rushing mighty Tweed or (Aberdeen) Dee, the rippling peaty stream or burn, the quiet meandering brook—rivers all over the place. There is an easy but false association in all our minds that clear water is clean. This is not so. Even in a remote place, who can be sure a dead sheep does not lurk behind that far corner? Run-off from roads contains many “nasties”. After a week or so with no rain, when it does rain, run-off water is very dark—even near-black—containing rubber, bitumen, other tyre derivatives, heavy metals, petrochemicals and other hydrocarbons from exhaust fumes—a toxic cocktail indeed. But now everyone is so used to it (and it looks just like soil) that hardly any one thinks about it. Aquifer water may be, as in Bath in Somerset, ten thousand years old, or it may be very recent, more accurately termed “flush-water” or “storm-water”, running straight to the stream only a little below ground level. Either way the composition of stream water reflects that of the material it has flowed through….

Keywords:

RFS7;TINA BONE; SYLVIA HASLAM;RIVER FRIEND;WATER CHEMICAL; CLEAN WATER; DIRTY WATER; NUTRIENTS; PLANT COMMUNITIES; AQUATIC; RUN-OFF; TOXIC; AQUIFER; BATH; SOMERSET; FLUSH WATER; STORM WATER; STREAM; RIVER; WHAT IS IN WATER; ROCK TYPE; SOIL TYPE; NUTRIENT STATUS; POLLUTION; RIVER MAPS; SUBSTRATE; TEMPLE BRIDGE; RIVER LARK; SIGNAL CRAYFISH;SEWAGE;SILT;RIVERBED;ALIEN;WATER PLANTS;CHALKSTREAM;MAMTOR;DERBYSHIRE;MONSAL TRAIL;RIVER WYE;CUMULATIVE POLLUTION;RAINWATER; BLANKET BOG STREAM; POROUS; ROCK;HABITAT;RIVER STRUCTURE; LIMESTONE;MOSSES;PROPAGULES;RIVER ITCHEN;CHANNEL; DYKE;EVIL WEED; CANADIAN PONDWEED;GIARA PLATEAU;TEMPLE BRIDGE;CONSOLIDATED HARD BED;SHADE;ROOTS;DYSTROPHIC; OLIGOTROPHIC; MESOTROPHIC;SEMI-EUTROPHIC;EUTROPHIC;NON-BANDED; NUTRIENT BANDING;

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Where water comes from 12

What is in Water? 13

Rock type, soil type and nutrient status 15

Downstream eutrophication 18

What pollution does 19

River Maps (A different way of understanding rivers) 26

A Case-in-Point 36

Substrate (soil) 44

Research site example: Temple Bridge (TL 7585 7287), River Lark, Suffolk 51

Afterword 59

Tables 1 and 2 59–60

Citations 61

List of Stand-alone Titles in the River Friend Series 62

About the Authors 62