Pavement art highlights plight of local rivers

Shoegazers around Easton, St Werburgh’s and Bradley Stoke will be rewarded with views of colourful artworks depicting local aquatic life, but only for the next fortnight.

A campaign to improve river health has drawn on the talents of visual artists to beautify its message.

Four local artists have created pavement murals depicting Bristol river wildlife to help encourage people to look after neighbourhood waterways, under the banner ‘only rain down the drain’.

The paintings in Bradley Stoke, Easton’s Riverside Park and Mina Road in St Werburgh’s feature an egret and a kingfisher, fish, otters and eels, and the words ‘drains lead to rivers’ and ‘water not waste’.

Poppy Suggett was one of the artists that hand painted unique artworks drawing attention to the fact that street drains often run directly into local waterways

A combination of hand painted and stencil-based artworks were created using non-toxic chalk-based paints which will gradually wash away with rainfall over the course of a couple of weeks.

“As a biologist and an artist, working with BART to create environmentally-friendly murals was fantastic,” said Alicia Hayden who produced the hand painted images found on pavements in Bradley Stoke.

“It felt like a powerful way to reach local people, and the feedback I’ve received has been really positive – especially about the paints, which were eco-friendly, made of cornflour, water, and food colouring.”

Alicia Hayden painted the pavement in Bradley Stoke

The campaign, coordinated by Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART), is designed as a gentle reminder that chemicals, litter, oil, leftover paint and other pollutants discarded down outdoor drains will end up in nearby rivers and streams.

Street, or storm, drains prevent flooding and take pressure off sewage treatment works by diverting excess water to local watercourses.

But anything other than water that ends up in those drains could damage the health of aquatic wildlife, suffocate the ecosystem by depleting oxygen levels or cause toxic algal blooms which smother the life in the water.

Artist Jess Knights worked with BART staff to produce stencilled artworks in Bradley Stoke

“We were so delighted to be joined by such talented artists to help spread this  important message in a creative and fun way,” BART’s Amy Wade said. “Many people don’t realise drains often lead straight into rivers and everyone making small changes can make a big difference  to river health”.

Artist Jess Knights painted murals outside Riverside Park, next to the River Frome, and produced stencils which BART staff used to decorate the pavement in Bradley Stoke.

“I loved being part of this project,” she said. “We turned something as overlooked as a drain into colourful, thought provoking artwork – so much fun! Such a simple but powerful way to remind people to connect with the rivers around them.”

Ripley Gosling produced ‘only rain down the drain’ artworks by Mina Park in St Werburgh’s

To preserve river health, BART advise pouring used liquid like mop or car wash water down the toilet or indoor drain which run directly to the sewers and encourage the use of non-toxic, biodegradable products.

Harsh solvents like paint thinners which might damage plumbing or pipe-clogging liquids such as oil  can be taken to the recycling centre, they say.

All images: BART

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