A wet winter has been followed by an exceptionally dry and sunny May in 2020. This makes for nice weather but leaves our lovely waterways under threat of ‘drying-up’ later this summer. The Friends of the Gumstool Brook was founded in 2013 as a result of concern about this type of destructive problem.

Sadly 2022 is well on the way to repeating 2015 CLICK HERE FOR August 2022 photograph

Thames Water have a new scheme for their customers ‘Be an H2O hero’ please take a look.
They have asked us to carry this link:
 https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/water-saving/water-saving-tips-for-summer

A photograph below (taken December 2019) of the overflow from the Barton Mill Pound feeding into the water meadows. Built in 2018 it is intended as a natural resistance to flooding downstream by diverting excess waters into the fields where they may more easily dissipate. We are keeping the system under review.

UPDATE 2022
Remedial work urgently required for Summer 2022

The work undertaken in 2018 to release flood overflow water from the Barton Millpound Stream to the former Swan Lake is now in urgent need of repair and improvement to remove a significant leak from a level near the base of Millpound and to provide a sluice gate to control high water flow. CLICK HERE