The Bite In Watercress

Here’s a fascinating story about the discovery of “organic pollution” created by the harvesting of watercress on the famous Bourne tributary of the River Test. Discovering that mustard oil released by watercress reduced biodiversity in part of the stream, the company cultivating the plant changed its process for filtering released water. “The Bourne Rivulet, a tributary of the River Test near Andover in Hampshire, is the idyllic spot which inspired Harry Plunket Greene to write Where the Bright Waters Meet. The Victorian opera singer and key figure in English music, was also a keen fisherman who caught three fat, wild brown trout in the crystal-clear waters of the little chalk stream on August 29 1904.” Paul Eccleston in the U.K. Telegraph.