This River Blackwater drains small parts of the
English counties of
Hampshire and
Wiltshire. It is a tributary of the
River Test.
Course
It rises just to the east of the Wiltshire village of
Redlynch, east of
Salisbury. It then flows east into Hampshire, where it flows north of the village of
Wellow and the hamlet of
Wigley. The river turns south, passing under the
M27 and past Broadlands Lake and the
Testwood Lakes
Testwood Lakes is a nature reserve on the northwest edge of Southampton in Hampshire, England. It is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. The three lakes, which are owned by Southern Water and provide water for Hampshire, a ...
reservoirs, before joining the Test between
Totton and
Redbridge. The
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
records the length of the main river as , with an additional for the watercourse from Redlynch to the confluence north of
Hamptworth.
Water quality
The Environment Agency measures water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of
invertebrates,
angiosperm
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.
[ Text was copied from this source, which is available under a]
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright.
Water quality of the River Blackwater in 2019:
See also
This River Blackwater should not be confused with the
River Blackwater in north-east Hampshire, which is a tributary of the
River Loddon and (indirectly) of the
River Thames.
Another similarly named waterway in Hampshire is Black Water, a small stream which flows eastwards across the
New Forest, passing under Rhinefield Ornamental Drive, before joining Ober Water and Highland Water just north of
Brockenhurst to form the
Lymington River.
References
* Ordnance Survey (2004). ''OS Explorer Map OL22 - New Forest''. .
* Ordnance Survey (2004). ''OS Explorer Map 131 - Romsey, Andover & Test Valley''. .
External links
*
Rivers of Hampshire
Rivers of Wiltshire
1Blackwater
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