Latest News

River Moselle


The Moselle is Haringey’s river, flowing mostly underground from Muswell Hill to the River Lea at Tottenham Hale. Its new river channel in Lordship Rec was created as part of the regeneration of the whole park in 2011/2012. It replaces the old litter-strewn ditch hidden between the trees. The new flower-lined banks are great for wildlife and look beautiful: see the info-board between the bridges, designed by one of the Friends.


MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE

However, as before, the Moselle still suffers from pollution and smells. So now the Council and Thames Water have started implementing a 5-year programme of action to address water quality issues. The problem is that many homes, businesses and other buildings have plumbing misconnections which mistakenly send foul water into the fresh-water drains. These drains then feed into Haringey’s underground streams, including the Moselle. Action is being taken to identify the individual sources of this pollution (50,000 properties written to and 400 misconnections identified so far), and to ensure property owners remedy the misconnections.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

To celebrate Haringey’s river, park users produced a Moselle Walk Guide. [See link below] 5,000 have already been distributed to the public and schools etc, and there have been a number of well-attended residents’ walks along the route.

Throughout 2013 a community project, ‘A River Runs Through It’, worked with Friends of Parks Groups, schools and others to spread awareness of the rich history of the Moselle, and to rediscover some of the crafts and products traditionally associated with it. [See links below]

In November 2013, ten volunteers from the Friends of Lordship Rec trained to become regular testers of the water quality. They have formed the Lordship Rec Moselle Group and will work with the park’s User Groups and the Council to promote the Moselle, to ensure our river is gradually cleaned up as far as possible, and is generally well-looked after.

LORDSHIP REC MOSELLE GROUP
More info about the Group, or to get involved, contact Caroline:
c/o cjepson120@gmail.com
Moselle History and Project: www.lordshiprec.org.uk/history/moselle-river-history http://ariver-runsthroughit.org.uk
Moselle Walk Guide: http://haringeyfriendsofparks.org.uk/moselle%20walk%20brochure%2015%2005%2012.pdf