Video Shows Poor State of Grand Union Canal
Green algae and litter coat the water through Hanwell and Brentford
Hanwell based environmental campaigner Daniel Raven-Ellison has taken a video showing the poor state of the Grand Union Canal in the local area.
Daniel, who is also behind the campaign to make London a National City Park, is calling for more to be done to maintain the condition of the canal after making the film which shows the water covered with litter and green algae this Monday (20 August). He is suggesting that, as has happened on the Thames, paddle boarders could make a difference in cleaning up the debris. The stretch of the canal, which is also part of the Brent river, runs from Southall to Brentford and into the Thames.
He said, "I absolutely love London's canal network and it gives me great pleasure, as I'm sure it does with a lot of people, to see herons and large fish swimming round in it. It's a really great part of Ealing, so it's even more upsetting when you see that it is trashed with rubbish.
"Some of that is because when there's a storm, water runs off the landscape and brings rubbish into the canal or from the rivers further upstream. Some of it is because wind is blowing rubbish from bins that are nearby the canal that aren't emptied regularly enough – you quite often see bins by the canal that are completely full.”
He added that litter left by people using the canal or walking beside it can also end up in the water and advocated similar litter picking sessions such as those run near Kew Bridge by paddle boarding group Active 360. His view is that such initiatives need to happen more often particularly on the Grand Union canal. He has suggested a ‘paddle board library’ in which people could borrow a board for free in return for helping to keep the canal clean. Next month he is going to look for crowdfunding for the initiative.
He says, "The canal in Ealing is a really underused resource, I see people canoeing and paddle boarding in other parts of London but very few people come up this part of the canal.
"The bigger message isn't about the rubbish - the rubbish we can deal with. The more exciting thing is to enable hundreds more people to enjoy what's such a fantastic resource on our doorstep."
Picture: Daniel Raven-Ellison
A spokesman for the Canal and River Trust which is responsible for maintaining the canal said, "We have teams, including massive support from volunteers, out every day, all over London cleaning litter from the water and towpath. However, more still needs to be done, and as a charity we are still having to spend far too much money on clearing litter.
"Thankfully there’s growing awareness around the harm plastic does nowadays. Anyone interested in helping out can get in touch via canalrivertrust.org.uk
"We do our work constantly and there is no doubt the quality of the canal is improving. But if people have concerns about a specific area and we can organise a working group to clear up, we will do so.”
August 23, 2018