The build-up of rubbish and weeds in the Brayford Pool has been a reoccurring problem in Lincoln.
Volunteers have regularly been seen venturing into the water on their canoes or boats to collect rubbish from the Pool.
Just last weekend a group of local volunteers had been out on their canoes to collect rubbish and returned with several bags of litter that residents had thrown into the river.
The build-up of rubbish and weeds has been an issue for the City of Lincoln Council and for the Brayford Trust for a long period of time.
In the past the Pool has been littered with rubbish and has been in an awful, polluted state. The Brayford Trust was established in 1969 to help the restoration of the water. But since then the Trust has faced an on-going battle with restoring the water and it is clear changes need to be made.
So what more can be done?
Keith van Bergen, harbourmaster of the Brayford Pool and a member of the Brayford Trust, has said that “We (Brayford Trust) often have volunteers and we welcome it.” He says they “could go out every day, all day, because when [they] get in and have finished picking up there’s more rubbish coming in the other end.”
“The river Witham runs in from the south-east corner and runs into the pool, the Fossdyke flows in from the west into the north-west corner of the pool, and they both bring all sorts of
detritus with them. And then people around the pool throw stuff into the pool, unfortunately, and therefore at the back eddies of the two flows, where all the moorings are, we get the rubbish building up.”
“All we can do is what we do – just keep cleaning on a regular basis. The plea from us is for people to stop throwing rubbish into the Witham, the Fossdyke and the Brayford Pool.”