Meet the volunteers improving city waterways by removing invasive plant

Floating pennywort (Hydocotyle ranunculoides) is a menace for river users – stopping angling, water sports and river and canal navigation and often clogging up boat propellers. It can also block key river infrastructure, including weirs, sluices and pumps, which can lead to flooding.

It has been banned from sale since 2014 in the UK and it is now against the law to cause floating pennywort to grow in the wild.

But, despite this, floating pennywort is continuing to spread rapidly.

Volunteers from RiverCare Lincoln Paddlers have taken on the challenge of tackling this menace head-on! Working alongside partners from the Environment Agency, East Merica Rivers Trust, the Canal and Rivers Trust, and local angling clubs, they have been able to make a marked improvement to Lincoln’s waterways over the past 3 years.

When they started back in 2021 Floating Pennywort was out of control and completely blocking waterways across the city centre, making paddling impossible and causing significant harm to the ecosystem under the surface.

Since starting they have spent over 600 hours on the water, removing over 300 buckets of floating pennywort by hand pulling the plant taking care to remove even the smallest clumps of leaf material. This work, alongside mechanical removeal methods completed by partners, has been remarkably successful and the plant is now under control in city centre waterways. Now their regular patrols are only finding small handfuls of pennywort which is removed when spotted.

We are delighted that their hard work is being recognised by the BBC Radio Lincolnshire Make A Difference awards as finalists in the Green Category.

The best way to find out more about this welcoming and friendly volunteer group join their facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/445130410743654/

RiverCare Lincoln Paddlers are one over 50 RiverCare and BeachCare groups working across East Anglia to protect and enhance their local blue spaces. By getting involved with your local RiverCare or BeachCare group you will be joining over 1,000 regular volunteers who care for waterways across the Anglian Water region. The RiverCare & BeachCare programme is delivered by Keep Britain Tidy in partnership with Anglian Water with the aim of supporting local community groups.