Ben Fogle: It's time to clean up our rivers On an even smaller scale, invisible chemicals from our sinks, showers and lavatories are finding their way into ambient water sources - to say nothing of effluent from industry, leakage from landfills and pesticide-tainted run-off from the land. This cocktail of chemicals is complex, and can include heavy metals, pesticides and other nasties. A range of harmful effects has been documented, but a great deal is still unknown about the damage these chemical mixtures can cause to wildlife or the hazard they present to recreational water users. Many of these pollutants persist in the environment and can accumulate in organisms. Some "endocrine disrupting compounds" have been linked to effects such as the feminisation of male fish. But the effect such compounds have on exposed humans is unknown. Research is now taking place into the potential impact of such chemicals on swimmers, surfers, divers etc. The good news is that people power is fighting back. The Barefoot Beach Clean is run by Barefoot Wine, a Californian wine producer which has organised beach cleans in the US for more than a decade, together with Surfers Ag ainst Sewage (SAS). I have taken part in many cleanups with SAS, which was launched in 1990 by a group of youngsters who were tired of surfing in sewage-polluted waters. The organisation has grown into a powerful lobby and awareness group. Its most recent campaign was Return to Offender, in which packaging was returned to the company that produced it. This spring, a small party of volunteers and campaigners braved sharp wind and rain to descend on a small, sandy beach in Bournemouth to do a British-style Barefoot Beach Clean. Within an hour we had picked up more than 200kg of rubbish from what appeared to be a clean beach. We only had to scratch beneath the sandy surface to unearth a worrying array of bottle tops, nylon rope, supermarket bags and thousands upon thousands of tiny pieces of plastic. Plastic debris can be found littering beaches all across the world's oceans, even on the most far-flung and inaccessible of beaches. It is shocking that an average 1,969 item s of litter are found on every kilometre of the UK's coastline. To protect our oceans we also need to look closer to home, to our rivers. Rivers are the arteries that feed the planet's beating heart, its oceans - and they are just as vulnerable when it comes to rubbish and pollutants. Inland, many of our rivers have a good reputation in terms of water quality (although David Walliams's Thames-borne sickness on his Sport Relief swim didn't help that river's image); but we still have a huge problem with litter. As with many environmental issues, it is easy to be defeatist and pessimistic, but we can make a difference, which is why the new Beach Clean campaign extends beyond our beaches and onto our rivers and canals. That is why I am leading a group of volunteers and campaigners, as part of an ongoing riverbank clean-up campaign, to Richmond upon Thames on Sunday, July 8, to pick up some of the mountain of rubbish that still shamefully litters far too many riversides. With drought and then deluge, water has been much in the news this year, and it is important to keep the health of our rivers and coastline in the public eye. I hope my children will grow up to understand the effects of negative human activity in the natural world, be that the impact of global warming or the simplest effects of littering in public places. We all have a part to play. If local people do not care for their own areas and what's on their own doorstep, who will? How to get involved We're a nation that relies heavily on tourism, and many visitors are attracted by our coas tline, ports, harbours and seaside resorts. We need to act as a nation and safeguard these areas. Volunteers in the Barefoot Beach Clean campaigns of 2011 removed 2.5 tons of litter from the UK's coastline and river banks. Earlier this year, volunteers helped clean a 29-mile stretch of canals in the Black Country around Walsall. Everything from bathtubs, tyres, bicycles and prams, to the ubiquitous shopping trolleys, was removed from the canal waters. In March, volunteers who took part in a clean-up with the charity Thames 21 cleared an astonishing 2721kg of rubbish from the river, including items dating so far back they crossed the line between litter and archaeology. A similar event was held on the banks of the Derwent in Keswick, west Cumbria. Various river users, including the Woodland Trust, canoe clubs and anglers, assembled to remove rubbish. The canals and waterways of the River Lea, which flows through the Olympic Park, have already been cleaned (see telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle) and the area restored as a new wetland habitat for wildlife - all in time for the Games, when billions will see our river landscape as footage of the Olympic Park is beamed around the world. The majority of harmful chemicals detected in our marine excosystem are also found in everyday household cleaning products. Shampoos, skin creams, washing detergents and paints are man-made chemical cocktail shakers. There are kinder, safer and practical alternatives that you can use. One helpful thing you can do is to buy "green," river-friendly products. For more information about cleanups - or the effect of plastics on our rivers and oceans - go to sas.org.uk; plasticoceans.net; thames21.org.uk