Over recent years the attention of river watchers, once chiefly focused on black industrial pollution in towns and cities, has shifted. Out in the countryside deadly cocktails of the insecticides, herbicides and fertilisers used in intensive farming have been leaching into rivers and wreaking havoc. The problems have been made worse where toxins have been concentrated by water abstraction.

In the Wandle we have a stark reminder that urban rivers, however much improved by changes in industry and improved regulation, are still hostage to one-off events.

Anglers have three main bodies fighting to improve water health. The Salmon and Trout Association fights for tighter legislation, the formidable Anglers’ Conservation Association pursues polluters through the courts, and the Wild Trout Trust (WTT) a highly respected charity of which I happen to be president, gets into the water to alter flows, improve spawning gravels and foster the insect and plant life on which fish, plus many birds and small mammals, depend.

With the backing of an impressive team of vice-presidents – they include David Bellamy, Jeremy Paxman, Gareth Edwards and Lord Steel of Aikwood – the WTT has, in only a few years, started more than 200 in-the-water projects in Britain and the Irish Republic and has helped struggling fish populations – and especially threatened wild trout – to survive.

A few months ago the trust announced plans for improving rivers such as the Wandle, in many urban settings. It recognised that many formerly dead waters could support life if their sub-surface habitats could be improved.

The water companies, which have long been among the worst polluters, could do worse than contribute to initiatives such as this in their own areas. At the volunteer/community end of conservation, wonders can be done with a few thousand pounds – trivial sums set against the profits that this industry regularly generates.

Support for local projects would enable individual companies to engage with local communities in a positive way. It would help them to introduce parents and children to the fascination of life under water, and to create more informed, and maybe more supportive, customers for tomorrow.

It would enable them to create instead of repair – and to save cash in the long run.

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