Wet side story

5 September 2000

Barn owls back from the brink, new findings on 'gender bender' chemicals and decades of industrial pollution in rising groundwater are three of the topics up for discussion in the Wet Side Story talks at the British Association Annual Festival of Science on Wednesday 6th September.

Barn owls were spiralling into a rapid decline according to a survey carried out in the late 1980's. Scientists from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Environment Agency and the Hawk and Owl Trust are working together on river restoration projects which have halted this decline and secured a new future for the owls.

The projects are putting the sparkle back into rivers by restoring their banks and providing favourable habitats for small mammals like the field vole. These in turn provide good hunting grounds for the owl. There are fewer trees and farm buildings available for the owls so special nesting boxes, which look like huge dog kennels on poles, have been erected along the river banks to encourage the owls to breed.

Seven years ago rivers such as the Eastern Rother, which forms the boundary between Kent and Sussex, had virtually no owls nesting along its banks. Now it has 24 pairs of barn owls breeding in the boxes and the numbers are rising each year.

Elsewhere, scientists are trying to determine how great a role is played by sewage in the feminisation of fish in the UK and Europe. Inactive oestrogen in human waste is 'reactivated' by bacteria during sewage treatment. But investigations have shown that changes in the way sewage systems are managed could help to mitigate the impacts of the so-called gender bender chemicals.

Rising water in old disused mines can flush toxic metals into rivers and streams. This is bad news for the water industry, which would have to treat the water for domestic usage, and for the environment. The British Geological Survey and the Environment Agency are carrying out research to understand and manage the way in which groundwater reacts when mines close down.

These and other watery issues, such as the continuing impacts of acid rain on British lakes and the effects on groundwater when greenfield sites are developed, will be covered at a press conference on Wednesday 6th September at 9.00am. The conference will be held in the Press Centre, The Huxley Building, Imperial College.

Further information

Environment Agency National Press Office
Tel: 020 78638710 (5 lines)

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

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