Student in at the deep end to clean water

Published on Wednesday 11 November 2009 08:29

ARMED with litter pickers and nets, student Lesley-Anne Jeffrey took it upon herself to clean up the Water of Leith.

The 25-year-old, who lives in Leith and is also a waitress at The King's Wark, which overlooks the river, was fed up looking at the piles of rubbish in the water and decided to take matters into her own hands.

Along with her boyfriend Stuart Maxwell, 27, and John Gibson, 52, who owns a small maintenance boat, she spent around two hours yesterday afternoon in the boat cleaning the stretch of water between Great Junction Street and the swing bridge at Forth Ports.

She said: "The water often looks filthy and really unsightly and doesn't seem to get cleaned very often.

"The rubbish seems to come from further up the river and gathers in this same spot. Every now and then it gets cleaned and then it is okay for a little while, but it is not cleaned often enough."

Miss Jeffrey, who has lived in Leith for three years, said she has spotted traffic cones, footballs and even chairs in the river, as well as plenty of litter.

She added: "The rubbish tends to get stuck under the Bernard Street bridge. It's a bit of a mess.

"I wanted to clean the water because other people don't seem to be doing much.

"There is wildlife in the water and it should be kept clean.

"I was moaning about how dirty the river was in the pub where I work and I just decided to organise something."

Miss Jeffrey, who lives on Great Junction Street, and her helpers borrowed equipment from the Water of Leith Conservation Trust to clean the river, from which they removed wheelie bins and even found a handbag and purse filled with cards.

The stretch they cleaned is owned by the Water of Leith 2000. Forth Ports said it previously introduced a floating boom at the swing bridge to collect the rubbish that washes down the river, in order to keep the port clean.

The rubbish is removed by Forth Ports, with the city council having responsibility for its disposal.

A spokesman for Forth Ports said how often the rubbish was collected was dependent on the weather, with collection increasing during rainy periods.

Mr Gibson owns Coburg House art gallery and studios in Leith, as well as a small engineering firm, also based at Coburg House.

The business maintains four boats on the Water of Leith, including bar and restaurant Cruz, and three boats which are rented out as offices.

Mr Gibson regularly takes volunteers, who want to help keep the Water of Leith clean, along the river in his boat.

He said: "We try to keep it tidy on a voluntary basis and go out about once a week."