Environmental Quality Appraisal of the River Ems A Report to EA, Sussex Area, Worthing June 2007 Dr Nigel T H Holmes ALCONBURY ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS The Almonds, 57 Ramsey Road, Warboys, Huntingdon PE28 2RW, UK Tel: 01487 822020; Mobile: 07957 424887 EMAIL:
[email protected] Ems Environmental Quality Appraisal – Holmes 2007 1 Executive Summary The Environment Agency (EA) identified the Ems in 2003 as being potentially over-licensed for groundwater abstraction and potentially at risk of ecological damage. Being a chalk stream bestows greater status regarding its ecological importance because such systems are Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) priority habitats. Continual development pressure also puts further strains on the environment and requires the EA to be able to protect the best, and enhance the rest, wherever possible. The prime driver for this investigative project was therefore to obtain as much information as possible to help the EA in this task. For each of the four reaches in the catchment, an assessment of the present-day ecological status was carried out alongside a review of contemporary and historic factors that could influence the ecological health of the river. This report presents the findings of the study. A key conclusion from the study was that there has probably been significant degradation of ecological quality, but paucity of data makes totally objective conclusions on the ‘cause’ and ‘effect’, and the severity of them, virtually impossible. Therefore it has to be accepted that conclusions drawn are not always supported by firm facts, but have been derived from many disparate sources that, taken together, do provide very important evidence of ‘damage’.