Glassmill Pond

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Monitoring pollution on the Ravensbourne

Thames21 recently installed a water quality monitoring device on Glassmill Pond. This will be routinely measuring the Ravensbourne, as it flows into the pond, for various pollutants. This is part of a wider trial of such devices, and will be backed up by other regular testing.

This pond is a known ‘hot spot’ for pollution, arriving from upstream misconnections and illegal disposal of oil, etc down rainwater gullies. We continue to urge Thames Water and L.B.Bromley Environmental Health to identify and resolve such incidents.

On the day of water quality monitor installation, also spotted this pollution incident. This time it did not come down the main river channel, but from an outlet coming from the direction of the adjacent park and High Street. It looked as if the contaminant was a light (cooking?) oil, radiating out from the pipe outlet. The first photo was taken from the ramp, and second from above the outlet. It looked pretty, but was bad news!

This was later dispersed downstream after a period of rainfall. If you spot water pollution on this pond or elsewhere please report on Thames Water pollution hotline on 0800 316 9800 .

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Glassmill pond: Tree work

Earlier this week a contractor was on site, removing fallen and damaged trees as well as coppicing the remaining willows. This was to allow more light as well as in preparation for future activities. as much as possible of the wood cut will be used on site.

Next the water level in the pond will be temporarily reduced to allow contractor machinery to access the pond; excavate the silt and reuse to raise the level of the island, create a bank to separate an enhanced water channel and pond area. The weir boards will be permanently removed to allow fish and eels to freely move upriver.

This project, when finished, will restore this pond’s heritage and biodiversity. It has been carried out in a partnership of our Friends group, Thames21, Environment Agency, Thames Water and Brom;ey council.

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Working party on Glassmill Pond

For our latest working party we chose a hot bank holiday weekend, which was probably not the most sensible. However this urgent decision was taken as at the time there was a large number of shopping trollies and scooters dumped in the pond. However Environment Agency staff had removed them before we turned up, so saving us a lot of hard work – phew!. We also decided that with the island very overgrown it was not safe to go on there. 

Working party volunteers
Working part volunteers
Some of removed vegetation
Pollution trapped by shrub
Just some of rubbish collected
Cleared area

However we still had plenty of tasks to be done – and we achieved the following — 

  • Collected 4 large bags of rubbish, including a number of golf balls, tennis balls and two footballs
  • Cleared two large piles of undergrowth and saplings from around the weir end (see ‘after’ photo below).
  • Partly cut back an overhanging buddleja bush near the concrete ramp. This has been trapping some pollution from upstream for some time (see above images). 

Our next scheduled working party will take place on a weekend sometime in November, when we hope that the vegetation will have died back and we can safely work on the island. If you wish to get involved please Email. You can find out more about Glassmill, and our project to refurbish it HERE.

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Glassmill refurbishment project update

As part of our ongoing project to bring this historic mill pond back to its earlier glory, we continue to work with other parties to greatly enhance its historic and ecological value. Led by Thames21 this project also involves amongst other stakeholders; Bromley council (as site owner), Environment Agency, Thames Water, and of course our Friends group.

Last Friday, Thames21 staff met up with Friends at the site, off Glassmill Lane, to carry out an important survey of the pond. They measured those features required to refine the design of the renovated pond, and for an important food risk assessment.

Tony Banfield (left) with T21 team
Feeling their way
Measuring position
Measuring an island
Thames21 Survey

This flood risk assessment, and approval by the Environment Agency to dredge and reuse the silt as part of the new pond design, is critical to this project being viable. This decision is complicated by some of the silt samples previously found to contain medium levels of pollution. To read about the background to this pond and its refurbishment go HERE.