Team attempts to canoe down dried-up Hertfordshire river
Campaigners have attempted to canoe down a badly depleted chalk river to raise awareness of its plight.
They have had to carry the boat along large parts of the River Ivel in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, where the water has completely dried up, and the team said it expected the 28-mile (45km) journey to take about 10 days.
Richard Meredith-Hardy from the RevIvel Association said there was too much extraction for drinking water and called for water to be taken from further downstream instead. He said: "We should be up to our knees in clear, whooshing, chalk river water, and there is none."
Affinity Water said it intended to "revitalise" the river by pumping in groundwater from a borehole. It added: "We will also be reducing the amount we take from groundwater sources that feed into the Ivel by 228m litres per year from 2025."
