Deben Climate Centre

24/07/2025

A new toolkit is now available for town and parish councils to support conservation in their local area!

As part of the Council’s Nature at Work scheme, the toolkit contains branded graphics for town and parish councils to use online to promote their involvement with the conservation scheme, which has created 116 wild spaces across East Suffolk which are being left to grow over the summer.

Groundwork East is currently working with town and parish councils to build awareness of the sites, and these councils are encouraged to help monitor the sites to better understand what species are present and how the sites are changing.

A guide to making a wildflower meadow, a species guide and information regarding funding opportunities for town and parish councils is also available.

Find the toolkit and learn more about Nature at Work using the link in the comments.

➡️ Town and parish councils are also invited to a free webinar on Wednesday 20 August (9am – 11am) to introduce the toolkit and find out more about the Nature at Work scheme, including the benefits of green spaces, ideas for funding and how to monitor and record the wildlife in your town and parish. Book your free place now using the link in the comments.

23/07/2025

Have you taken part in the Butterfly Conservation yet? We saw this gorgeous Comma while doing a count in Woodbridge 🦋

Butterflies are not just beautiful insects to see in the garden, but vital pollinators and an important part of the food chain. They are also key biodiversity indicators, so when butterfly numbers are low it acts as a red flag to scientists that other wildlife may be in trouble.

Get involved before August 10th at bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org

22/07/2025

🌧️ Returning rain brings new problems for our rivers.

After weeks of hot, dry weather, rain is a welcome sight, but it doesn’t always help the way we expect. When it hits dry, compacted, or concrete-covered ground, rainfall runs off quickly, causing floods and carrying a toxic ‘first flush’ of pollution into our rivers.

But there are solutions.

🌱 Nature-based tools like wetlands, silt traps, riparian buffers, and tree planting can slow the flow, filter pollution, and help the land soak up water.

When paired with engineered solutions like hydrodynamic vortexes, they help build resilience into our landscapes as our weather becomes more extreme.

Find out more in our blog 👇

https://theriverstrust.org/about-us/news/rain-after-drought-flooding-flush-pollution

22/07/2025

Catherine Jones from Channel 5 News visited the team yesterday to learn about pollution in the Deben, our citizen scientists, and what we think of the changes to the water industry put forward by the Cunliffe report.

"They have to stop paying such big dividends, stop senior executives taking bonuses when their performance is decreasing. All that has to change otherwise the new approach won't work." - David Findley

Watch the full segment at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hvQKGbG6gA

21/07/2025

Again, after the rain this morning, we saw multiple Anglian Water pumping stations releasing storm water and sewage into the Deben. The most notable incidents were at Martlesham (over half an hour), Woodbridge (over 1 hour) and Wickham Market (almost 3 and a half hours).

This follows on from the major spill two weeks ago at Woodbridge and Melton, which polluted the river for three days from 7th to 9th July. Read more about the incident via the link in our bio 🔗
on our website: debenclimate.org/post/woodbridge-and-melton-storm-overflow-incident-on-6th-7th-and-8th-july-2025

We expect to see more spills over the coming week as the rainy weather is due to continue.

For the latest information on current activity check the Anglian Water - Love Every Drop storm overflow map at anglianwater.co.uk/environment/storm-overflows/storm-overflow-map/

21/07/2025

Tune in to Channel 5 News at 5 to catch a feature about our citizen science initiative, the dangers of E.coli, and our thoughts on today’s Cunliffe Water Report.

📺 https://www.channel5.com/show/5-news-at-5/season-2025/5-news-at-5-c31d4d41-564c-4f00-be50-0b4475998f8b

19/07/2025

After the overnight rain, Anglian Water have had three pumping stations releasing storm water and sewage into the tidal Deben this morning; two in Woodbridge for over 2 hours, and one briefly in Martlesham.

This follows on from the major spill two weeks ago, which polluted the river for three days from 7th to 9th July. Read more: debenclimate.org/post/woodbridge-and-melton-storm-overflow-incident-on-6th-7th-and-8th-july-2025

The spill happened to coincide with high tide so we hope that the majority of the spills content will be washed away with the outgoing tide.

For the latest information on current activity check the Anglian Water - Love Every Drop storm overflow map: anglianwater.co.uk/environment/storm-overflows/storm-overflow-map/

18/07/2025

With the news that serious water pollution incidents were up 60% from 2023 to 2024 according to Environment Agency data, we look forward to the landmark review of the water industry being published on Monday and hope it could be the beginning of a great deal of change.

There needs to be more accountability from water companies and more investment in infrastructure. Our own river monitoring shows that upgrades to handle heavy rainfall and investing in processes such as phosphate stripping can make a huge difference.

Read the full story from the BBC: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5zl75dmm0o

Last year had the highest number of pollution events by water companies ever recorded.

18/07/2025

On July 7th our team of citizen scientists were out along the Deben doing their monthly water quality testing. This month we have some more in depth E.coli observations due to a pollution incident on the Deben, as well as our usual broader results.

💧 E.coli:

On July 7th we discovered a pollution incident at Woodbridge / Melton due to a 41 hour storm overflow release. This resulted in extremely high numbers of E.coli colonies in the area, confirmed by further testing on the 8th and 9th by our team and Save the Deben. By the morning of the 11th all the pollution had passed, and fortunately the immediate impact further down the river was negligible, showing yet again the power of tidal dilution in our river. More details: debenclimate.org/post/woodbridge-and-melton-storm-overflow-incident-on-6th-7th-and-8th-july-2025

We also saw high levels of E.coli along the length of the River Fynn and Lark; we have seen quite high levels of E, coli coming from the Henley and Tuddenham STW’s in the past. These are small and often ageing sewage treatment works which have previously been overwhelmed in extreme conditions, however the recent rain does not fully explain the red status which applies to almost all the sampling points here.

There was relatively low rainfall in the Debenham area where the river had been dry previously with a series of stagnant puddles. The limited rain effectively washed pollutants from these and so created a high E.coli impact further downstream.

💧 Phosphates:

The phosphate picture is broadly similar to that in recent months. Anglian Water untreated locations (those without phosphate stripping investment such as Easton and Rendlesham) continue to show very high phosphate levels and this is again notable in the Rivers Fynn and Lark where no investment in these STW’s has taken place.

💧 Nitrates:

As usual, nitrate spikes occur at all the Anglian Water STW’s; there are some high numbers in Debenham mainly due to the concentration of minerals in stagnant pools.

💧 Total Dissolved Solids (TDS):

The STW’s along the Deben all have elevated TDS usually around 1500 ppm or more (“normal river range” is between 300 and 1000 ppm). The anomalies with levels up to 3000 ppm are in the Debenham / Aspall area where no flow and extensive periods without rain have led to concentrated and stagnant conditions.

Read the full report over on our website: debenclimate.org/post/7th-july-2025-environment-monitoring-results

17/07/2025

We'll be at Martlesham Village Fete this Saturday from 11am-4pm with our Energy Champions 🌞 Why not pop along to say hi and learn about how we can help you to save energy and reduce those energy bills!

15/07/2025

One thing we LOVE about having our climate hub on Woodbridge Market Hill is getting to see all of the bees and other invertebrates visiting the beatiful Bee cafe planters! 🐝

Bee Cafes around Woodbridge, funded by Woodbridge Town Council., form a network connecting bees and other pollinators in an urbanised landscape, allowing them to travel around, find food more easily, and mitigate some of the issues they face from climate change.

Some simple ways you can help bees and other pollinators yourself according to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) include:
1. Grow more nectar rich flowers, shrubs and trees. Using window or balcony boxes are good options if you do not have a garden.
2. Let patches of garden and land grow wild.
3. Cut grass less often.
4. Do not disturb insect nests and hibernation spots.
5. Think carefully about whether to use pesticides.

gov.uk/government/publications/bees-needs/bees-needs-campaign

13/07/2025

After further testing over the last few days we now believe the excessively high levels of E.coli had cleared by Thursday.

Thank you to Ruth Leach at Save the Deben for helping us verify the tests, and for making sure that national databases such as Surfers Against Sewage have our data about this 41 hour sewage spill.

🚨High E.coli levels around Woodbridge and Melton🚨

Our citizen scientist testing team were out along the Deben on Monday conducting their monthly water sampling. The samples taken from the tidal section between Wilford Bridge and Kyson Point were tested for E.coli and the results showed that a major pollution incident was in progress, with E.coli levels between 3 and 30 times the Environment Agency's “safe bathing limit”.

Further investigation showed that Anglian Water had recorded a “storm overflow release” which started on Sunday night and ran all the way to Tuesday lunchtime. This 41 hour release is one of the longest recorded incidents of sewage and rainwater discharge we've seen on the Deben.

This alarming pollution incident is still going on as tests today at the Woodbridge Yacht Club site have shown elevated levels of E.coli still present in the tidal water.

We have reported all of our findings to both the Environment Agency and Anglian Water - Love Every Drop to investigate further, and we will continue to monitor the situation.

Please be advised we would not consider it safe to swim in the Deben in these areas at this time.

Find out more about our ongoing water monitoring at debenclimate.org/water-quality