Just to prove that questions about silt were asked.

Our Chairman Kemp Meikle was in contact with Hugh Keane Environmental Advisor with Scottish Water Solutions approximately 6 weeks prior to the environmental disaster at the Logan Reservoir happening. Please note the fact that Kemp raised the question of silt on the 27th of March 2008.
Please also note Mr Keane stated that the silt was to be monitored as the reservoir was being drawn down. There were also severe storm warnings for the week the incident occurred! SO WHAT IS THEIR NEXT EXCUSE?
The contact name given in point 3 Mr Kenny Michael must be a figment of their imagination as there has never been anyone of that name on the River Clyde Fishery Management Trust could it have been Kemp Meikle? who is actually asking the questions so why would he be asking if he already knew the answers duh?
Who has egg on their faces now!!!!!!!!!!!
We have also heard through the fishing grapevine that one of Scottish Water's so called independent expert witnesses has jumped ship and is being commissioned by U.C.A.P.A. Ltd to carry out 2 years monitoring the rejuvenation of the upper Logan damaged by the siltation. Is he still a credible independent witness? We also heard that U.C.A.P.A. are to sue Scottish Water for £24,000.00p to pay for the Clyde River Foundation to carry out the survey. What happens if U.C.A.P.A Ltd fail in their claim for compensation will the £24.000.00p be paid from their funds????
The Anglers Conservation Association has reluctantly informed us that they cannot represent the N.V.A.A. as there may be a conflict of interests as they already represent U.C.A.P.A. Ltd. We have asked that our membership fees of the A.C.A. be returned. What happens on other rivers if there is a conflict of interests between two clubs for instance and both are members of the A.C.A.? Who will the A.C.A. chose to represent? Looks like we will need to fight this one on our own and we are not about to let this one rest!!!! If you know any good lawyers out there who can help free of charge or for a small fee please tell them about us DON'T Let Scottish Water get away with this. They are up in front of a Sheriff at Lanark Sheriff Court on the 12th of March 2009 as are Scottish Water Solutions we will be there to watch the proceedings.

OOR WULLIE

We were sent this cartoon by one of our visitors we thought that it was very appropriate and have decided to post it.Hope you get as big a chucle at it as we did.

Scottish Water Deny Responsibility for Logan Disaster

Further to receiving this letter we have trawled through our records and found some interesting stuff. A perfect example is the botched attempt at removing silt from the river bed by Scottish Water or their contractors. We have a Scottish Member of Parliament as an eye witness. The photograph at top of page demonstrates exactly what Scottish waters attitude towards the environment is. This is them (or their contractors) having pumped sludge from the river allowing it to break from bund and further pollute a part of the river that had escaped original pollution.
We also had a meeting with 3 representatives from Scottish Water at our hatchery one of whom admitted that it should never have happened and another who advised us in how to claim compensation. Now it seems that they were either lying to us or Scottish Water are now shirking their responsibilities.
For them to claim that such an incident could not be foreseen to escape paying compensation for ruining years of work by the N.V.A.A. is not only immoral its down right disgusting. We will be taking legal action against Scottish Water over this and will be supplying our Lawyers with the names of the Scottish Water representatives who made the statements ( wonder if they will be prepared to deny in court what was said at the meeting and did N.V.A.A.secretly record the meeting????? Did the Scottish Water Representatives happen to notice the video camera siitng in the corner of the hut which may have been accidentally left recording?( in the words of the above letter 'The N.V.A.A could not have foreseen that the camera was recording' If Scottish Water want to go to war over this we say let the 'Games' begin. More damming evidence of Scottish Water polluting our rivers to follow.

Clyde River Foundation Snub Nethan Valley A.A.

This is a copy of an invitation to a meeting sent to the Mid Clyde Angling Association apparently many other clubs within the Clyde catchment received a similar invite.
It appears that Dr Yeomans of the Clyde River Foundation has chosen not to invite members of the Nethan Valley Angling Association to the meeting which demonstrates his total lack of professionalism in matters relating to the fish stocks and matters relating to the Clyde Catchment area for which he claims the self ordained title of Catchment Manager.
If you read the last paragraph of his letter where we have underlined he has clearly contradicted himself by not inviting our association to the meeting.
Is it perhaps he feels threatened by the knowledge and experience of our river management and research teams? Or is it simply the fact that he has personal issues with Jimmy Delaney and has allowed those issues to cloud his judgement?
He will probably claim that he simply forgot to send an invitation of it was lost in the post. the man is the same when it comes to surveying the River Nethan he basically ignores our association and does what pleases.
The Foundation has been in existence for the same length of time as our association and in that time they have achieved very little except to con local authorities into parting with cash to fund their 'Clyde' in the Classroom project.
Ask the man where is his catchment management plan? what has all his survey work proved? The truth is all of the money spent on surveys etc could have gone to build much needed fish passes.
This is year 10 since the Foundation was initially set up and not one extra fish has made it up the system thanks to any of the work done by them.
The truth of the matter is they are teaching children how to hatch fish artificially instead of teaching the children the problems that face fish in the wild and how to remedy the situation.
There are two hatcheries within the Clyde catchment yet the CRF chooses to buy their fish eggs from Howietown. Any fish that survive the classroom are released into local waters, where is the sense in this stocking with fish alien to the catchment? Perhaps the CRF should re-name their project as Howietown in the classroom and stop conning people into believing its Clyde in the Classroom.

Ask Yourself This

If Scottish Water are not responsible for the Logan Water Pollution then why are they paying scientists £24,000p out of the public purse? No doubt we will have to fight tooth and nail for any compensation due to us but here we see them handing over more than twice what we have claimed for scientists to monitor a section of river for which they have no baseline data. What are any results of surveys going to be based on 'pie in the sky figures'? Easy money if you can get it.
Several angling associations and clubs are now actively seeking information in relation to pollutions which have happened in their own particular sections of river which involve Scottish Water these figures when compiled will be published and no doubt will make for interesting reading.
We have also heard that U.C.A.P.A.Ltd have engaged the services of the A.C.A. and are currently pursuing a claim against Scottish Water in relation to the Logan 'Incident' given the fact that they have done nothing to improve or stock said tributary then surely it would be in order for the Mid Clyde Angling Association to also submit a claim as any of the migratory fish spawning up there have to come through their section of the river first therefore any damage to stocks caused by the pollution directly affects them too. It is a sad state of affairs that a recovering salmon system should be subjected to such avoidable catastrophes.
We hope that valuable lessons have been learned on this occasion and that nothing like this is EVER allowed to happen again.
What we advise Scottish Water to do the next time is before any reservoir is drained
1 Video tape the first mile of river downstream from the proposed works
2 Carryout aquatic invertebrate surveys above and below the reservoir
3 Carry out electro-fishing to establish fish species and approximate numbers present
4 CONTACT ALL people with fishing interests within the chosen catchment area as they may have information on 2 & 3 They may have stocked the section so should have records of numbers and size.
5 When reservoir has been drained down ensure that someone is on 24hr standby to close the valves if a major storm is forecast, yes this may delay the works by a few days but surely that is better than wiping out a full section of pristine river or is profit the driving force in these scenarios?
6 God forbid it but should a similar incident occur Not only S.E.P.A but the angling associations or clubs should also be informed. Instead of having to find out from a third party like we did. Fortunately we had a warranted bailiff who was in the area and who was able to attend immediately on receiving the information, to video tape the whole scenario or perhaps we would never have gotten to hear about it hmmmmmmmm.

We believe that the above six steps are not beyond reason and are very simple to do
and if they help prevent another ecological disaster like this one then it will have been money well spent.

E-mail from Bell Ingram

Is This Company for |Real?

It appears that Scottish Water has taken the view that they are not liable for the Logan Pollution incident in May of 2008. If not them who is? Who can they blame? their sub contractors? We would imagine that the sub contractors produced a method statement which was approved by Scottish Water. We would have been unaware of the current situation had we not contacted Bell Ingram in relation to the length of time which had elapsed since they last contacted us. So much for the promise that was made to us by certain representatives form Scottish Water about keeping us informed. We have also asked Scottish Water for various details under the Freedom of Information Act which they appear to reluctant to disclose. For this reason we have chosen to subscribe to the Anglers Conservation Association who represent angling clubs in cases like this. If you are a member of an angling club and your club has had problems with pollution incidents from Scottish water i.e sewage effluent or other nasties that seem to get into our rivers please contact us. We think the public should be made aware of just how much pollution is actually getting into our river. We are currently investigating how many pollution incidents have occurred within the Nethan Catchment since 2000 and we will publish the results on here. I know that other angling association are carrying out similar investigations.