Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) has been working quietly in the Congresbury Yeo catchment over the past couple of years developing its knowledge of the river and what needs doing to improve it for the benefit of wildlife and people.

The trust has completed its surveys of the area - from the lakes to the estuary - and engaged people in its Waterblitz, looking at water quality in the river.

This year will be an even busier year and BART wants to hear from people who want to be involved. Activities it has planned this year - subject to Covid disruptions – include setting up an invertebrate monitoring network River Dipping Eel in the classroom sessions for local schools, a Congresbury Yeo Waterblitz involving communities, its own water quality investigations across the catchment and community talks to share what the group has found.

A BART spokesman said: “We also want to take part in restoration and local flooding improvement projects with local partner, tree planting and meeting every landowner in the catchment to share its findings and ask for their support in helping improve the river as they are critical to everything we do.

“We are already getting great support right across the Bristol Avon catchment for the work we are doing. So please join our Congresbury Yeo mailing list via info@bristolavonriverstrust.org and let us know of your particular interest or concern for your local area."

Leading wet civil engineering specialist, Land and Water, has won a design and build contract with the Environment Agency in the South West, to design, manufacture and install bespoke eel passes in the Wessex region, including Congresbury Yeo.

European eels are a critically endangered, and consequently a legally protected, species that are at risk of disappearing from rivers forever if urgent action is not taken to alleviate the threats they encounter during their upstream and downstream migrations.

Each autumn, adult eels migrate downstream and out of our rivers to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to breed for a single time, then die. The spawned larvae then drift back across the Atlantic, reaching our waters one to three years later, to start their migration up our rivers to feed and grow.

Common threats encountered during these migrations include man-made river obstructions such as weirs, dams, river pumps and turbines.

With design works already in process, and installations likely to take place on site from the beginning of March, the project aims to provide safe upstream passage for eels over numerous water control structures. The works also require the need to design and install safe means of access to allow for future maintenance.

Minimal large plant will be required as works are intricate. Each element is being designed, where possible, to allow for single or two-man lifts. Specialist underwater equipment will be used to aid the installation, reducing the need to install cofferdams at certain locations, therefore minimising the risk that this could impose from an environmental and health and safety point of view.

Land and Water’s site manager, Matt Bush, said: “We are currently in the design stage of this project, working with a specialist contractor, but are looking forward to manufacturing and installing the eel passes which will future proof these structures for eel migration and help protect the declining eel population.

“Most of the sites we will be working across in the South West are quite different and require bespoke solutions, which each coming with its own set of challenges.

“One common challenge comes from the unpredictable river levels and so managing this proactively and safely is key to delivering this project on time and within budget.

“We are looking forward to getting stuck in to this project and proving again that Land and Water has the expertise to work under a number of challenges and circumstances.”