After two years of restoration work, former Victorian filter beds near the River Lea have been transformed into a wetland habitat by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Volunteers from various local groups assisted in clearing scrubland and aiding the restoration project. Challenges included securing a consistent water supply for the filter beds, which were abandoned in 1969 due to equipment theft and increased water demands. The re-opening of these wetlands will promote biodiversity and attract local wildlife, reinforcing Lee Valley's status as a globally recognized wetland area for migratory birds.
The volunteers played a key role in this project, the authority's Paul Roper said. We have a commitment to reinstate this wetland, despite many challenges we faced in getting electricity to pump water into the filter beds.
The rewetting will be complete by the autumn, to improve biodiversity habitats and to encourage birds, amphibians and insects back to the marshes.
Middlesex Filter Beds were originally laid out in the 1860s in response to the devastating cholera outbreak in London that killed tens of thousands of people.
It has taken five decades to restore Lee Valley's natural beauty, stretching from Bow Creek and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to Cheshunt and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.
#wetland-restoration #community-involvement #biodiversity #lee-valley-regional-park #ecological-conservation
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