Killing a River
The Galloway Hydros Scheme has devastated the River Dee. From a river that formerly produced 000's of salmon between rods and nets the total rod catch from the river has rarely exceeded 100 salmon per annum since the hydro scheme was built. Parts of the River Dee run dry and in the parts where there is flow it varies between drought and raging torrent at the flick of a switch. Dams were built with no fish passes and where fish passes were built they don't allow migratory fish such as eels or lampreys to get through.
The SavetheDoon.com campaign has no gripe with plans to improve the Dee but insist that it shouldn't be at the expense of the Doon. Already the Doon has all but lost its run of spring salmon. These are the fish which enter the river earliest in the year and run far up to spawn in the headwaters, battling waterfalls to reach the upland burns where they were spawned themselves.
Without adequate compensation flow from the loch the water quality in the River Doon would decline.
The clean water that leaves Loch Doon is vital for maintaining water quality in the lower reaches where the river flows though villages and towns, agricultural land and coal mines. All the life that the rivers supports depends on abundant clean water. The pearl mussels, lampreys, salmon, kingfishers, otters and rare saucer bugs are indicators of a healthy river, and their presence provides reassurance to us all regarding the rivers good health. The incredible diversity of life the river supports will be threatened if the flow in the river is reduced even further.
And there is more than the health of the river at stake. Bathing water quality is monitored at the Ayr beaches and in recent years there have been many failures. Warning signs inform the public that swimming in the sea is not recommended on days when poor bathing water quality is expected due to the health risk. The failures on the Ayr beaches are largely due to pollution flowing down the local rivers including the Doon. Reduced compensation flow in the Doon will increase the pollutant concentration even more potentially resulting in more failures of bathing water quality on Ayr beach. Little wonder the proposal has been dubbed "brown energy" rather than green energy.
