Partnership heralds greater protection for River Kennet

Thames Water and Action for the River Kennet (ARK) celebrated the completion of a £30 million project to reduce abstraction at an event in Mildenhall, Wiltshire, last week.
Representatives from a range of organisations, including the Angling Trust and the Environment Agency, were present to formally mark the commissioning of Thames Water’s new Axford pipeline, running 17 kilometres from the company’s Blunsdon reservoir north of Swindon, to Whitefield reservoir to the south-east of the town.
This latest piece of infrastructure will mean less water being abstracted by the water company – protecting the River Og and the River Kennet downstream of Marlborough during periods of dry weather.
As part of the event, Thames Water's CEO, Steve Robertson, was joined by school children from Ramsbury Primary School and ARK Chairman Richard Clarke, to release baby eels, known as elvers into the river.