Welcome
 

Join over 100 WRPS members in protecting our endangered chalk stream. The ambitious growth plans for the Cambridge area may threaten its very existence - and degrade the surrounding natural environment.

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Our aim is to restore all year round flow in the Wilbraham River.  This river passes through or by three SSSIs and a County Wildlife Site. It sustains local flora fauna and wildlife habitats.

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Over the last century increasing abstraction from the underlying aquifer for public water supply has reduced the groundwater level by up to 3metres. As a result in dry summer periods the natural springs feeding the river stop and the whole river dries up. Cambridge Water Company abstract one third of Cambridge's public water supply using 5 boreholes within just a 3km radius of our river spring heads.

 

To compensate for this in the 1990s an augmentation scheme was developed - to allow even more abstraction - but the river has still been drying up.

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We are working with other river groups and the Environment Agency to improve the situation. In the next year we hope to have live river level monitoring on this website and we are investigating water quality sampling.  A detailed summary of the challenges the river faces is available here