Lincolnshire’s rivers may be stuck with annual blankets of azolla and duckweeds for some time yet, as organisations struggle to come up with a solution.
Rivers across the county including in Lincoln and Boston turned green during the long, warm summer, as the currents’ flows reduced and the weeds took hold, however, the cold weather has forced it into retreat recently. He said the Canal and Rivers Trust had a statutory duty to maintain the watercourse, and that the EA’s role was mainly around flood risk management perspective and pumping water in at the top end of the watercourse.“The agency are not funded to remove this weed for any reason other than flood risk reduction and this weed presents no flood risk,” he said.
Oxygen-starving weed has got a stranglehold on Boston’s main waterway, the River Witham. In view is the Boston Belle. | Screenshot: BBC Look North/BBC News Hub Councillor Tom Ashton said he was sceptical there were “enough weed boats” to tackle the scale of the issue. Councillor Alison Austin feared for the reputation of Boston, adding “if there’s any way [the town] can be knocked, it will be used”.
But not for the dinghy boys