Do fence them in

Sometimes simple solutions really are the best. While many great minds are exercised about how the UK is going to meet the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive, a group of Relu researchers has been concentrating on the practicalities of reducing faecal contamination in our rivers. According to their computer model, building better fences that prevent livestock from fouling watercourses would be the single most effective strategy. It would work better than more complicated approaches, aimed at reducing stocking densities - which is good news for farmers. And for Relu this represents a great piece of cross-programme research, involving people from several projects. So it's good news all round. Read all about it in the press release http://www.relu.ac.uk/news/Press%20Releases/fences%20clean%20up%20watercourses%20final.doc and the research is published in Water Research http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2010.07.062 .