The River Ehen is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The river's source is at the west end of

Ennerdale Water Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of , and is wide and long. The lake lies in the eponymous valley of Ennerdale, surrounded by some ...

: it runs west through Ennerdale Bridge where it is joined by Croasdale Beck (flowing from Banna Fell). Ennerdale Water itself is fed by the River Liza. The Ehen continues past

Cleator Moor Cleator Moor is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The parish was historically called Cleator. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the new settlement of Cleator Moor was built on the moo ...

and Cleator, where it is fed by the

River Keekle The River Keekle is a river running through the England, English Non-metropolitan county, county of Cumbria. The Source (river or stream), source of the Keekle is to be found at Keekle Head Farm on High Park between Gilgarran and Asby. From the ...

, moving southwards through

Egremont Egremont may refer to: Places * Egremont, Cumbria, England * Egremont, Merseyside, England * Egremont, Massachusetts, United States * Egremont, Alberta, Canada Other uses * Earl of Egremont Earl of Egremont was a title in the Peerage of Gr ...

and eventually running parallel to the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

which it eventually joins at

Sellafield Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...

at the same point as the River Calder.

Wildlife

The river supports the largest

freshwater pearl mussel The freshwater pearl mussel (''Margaritifera margaritifera'') is an endangered species of freshwater mussel, an Aquatic animal, aquatic bivalve mollusc in the family Margaritiferidae. Although the name "freshwater pearl mussel" is often used fo ...

population in

. The river is a breeding ground for

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

. There is widespread

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

along the length of the river.

Environmental protection

The river Ehen was designated a

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

in 2005. The section of the coast into which it flows was designated as the Cumbria Coast Marine Conservation Zone in 2013. The Ehen is home to the Ennerdale black pearl, a rare black

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

formed in

s. It is the only river in England to be part of the project "Pearls in Peril", funded by the European Union's LIFE + NATURE Programme. The project aims to conserve the species at 21 sites in the UK. The freshwater pearl mussel relies for part of its life on the presence of salmonids, a group of fish including salmon and trout. Sellafield has previously used water from the River Ehen for cooling on the site, but ceased this operation in the 1990s. There is a weir on Ennerdale Water, and as at 2016 the valley continues to be an important source of drinking water for customers of

United Utilities United Utilities Group plc (UU) is the United Kingdom's largest listed water company. It was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West En ...

in West Cumbria. However, there are plans to supply these customers using a new pipeline from

Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district in Cumbria and the English Lake District National Park, Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a numbe ...

because 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 ...

has confirmed that for environmental reasons it will rescind the abstraction licence for Ennerdale. This means United Utilities must stop using it as a source of water by 2025 at the latest, and therefore will need to find one or more alternative sources of water.

References

External links

Wath Brow and Ennerdale Angling Association
Ehen, River Special Areas of Conservation in Cumbria {{England-river-stub