In the first round of Resolution voting, Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife was a clear winner nationally, not just in Lee Green drawing 36, 736 votes of the 93,271 votes cast. (The Online Gambling resolution came second with 25,164 votes.) The wording of the resolution which will now go forward to the National Federation of WI Annual Meeting in May is:
Water quality in our rivers is shameful. Legally, designated bathing waters must be regularly monitored for pollution. The NFWI urges its members, the wider public, local authorities and Government to make, support and promote applications for official designated bathing sites on appropriate stretches of rivers in their area. This will be as instrumental to the clean up of rivers as it has been for water quality improvement at coastal beaches.
The West Kent Public Affairs & International sub-committee have arranged a Zoom meeting and talk on the Resolution for Wednesday 12 April at 7.00pm.
The talk will be given by Katy Lewis, Monitoring Manager West – Environment Agency. Katy is an environmental scientist who manages monitoring at the Environment Agency. She leads the teams who carry out water quality sampling in the rivers and coastal waters of England. The Environment Agency is the non-departmental Government body who monitors water quality at inland and coastal waters with large numbers of bathers designated under the Bathing Waters Directive. They report the results so that the public as well as the Local Authorities can be informed about the quality of the water for bathing. Katy will talk about the state of English rivers, current monitoring and how a WI resolution could be effective for improving bathing waters.
If you would like to join the Zoom, please secure your place on Try Booking on the attached link before 4pm on Tuesday 4 April.
Trybooking link: https://www.trybooking.co.uk/CFYD