More than 1,000 St Albans residents have signed a petition calling on Affinity Water to stop extracting water from the River Ver.
The 16-mile stream makes its way from Kenworthy Lynch through Markyate, Redbourn and St Albans, and is classified as an incredibly rare chalk stream, of which there are only 210 in the world.
However, environmental campaigners claim that Affinity Water take around 28 million litres of water from the river every day.
Now, a petition has been launched calling on Affinity CEO Keith Haslett to stop taking the water and focus on fixing the leaks. More than 1,000 people have signed it so far.
A spokesperson for Affinity Water said: “Affinity Water meets regularly with local river groups as part of their National Environment Programme and is monitoring the River Ver and other chalk streams in the area.
“We take incredibly seriously our responsibilities as custodians of the local environment to protect the rare and precious chalk streams in our region for this generation and generations to come.
“We do not abstract water from the River Ver, but we do take water from a number of groundwater sources to supply the local community.”
To view the petition, visit www.actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-affinity-taking-water-from-the-ver
Photo credit: Gary Houston
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