Freshwater Watch
Just how clean is your local river, lake or canal?
ANGLING Times is this week urging readers to join a global initiative that will allow them to test local rivers, canals and stillwaters for pollution.
FreshWater Watch is a worldwide programme developed by the environmental nongovernmental organisation Earthwatch, whose aim is to connect people with science and nature.
In the UK a number of campaigns, called Water Blitzes, have already been carried out across the Bristol Avon and Thames catchment areas.
During a Water Blitz an army of volunteers equipped with water-sampling kits are placed at specific locations along a river and its tributaries.
Once the samples have been collected and pictures taken of the water health on that day, they are sent back to the lab and analysed by a team of scientists.
Results from a Water Blitz carried out in the Thames catchment in the autumn of 2017 revealed that water in the river surrounding London and Oxford held high levels of nitrates and phosphates, which can be detrimental to fish health.
Angling Times spoke exclusively to the press office from Earthwatch Europe to find out more about pollution in UK waters.
They said: “Many of the UK’s freshwater habitats are in a degraded state and water is not of the quality needed for many plants and wildlife.
“Our flagship research project, FreshWater Watch, encourages people to get involved in monitoring their local freshwater ecosystems.
“The FreshWater Watch community has already gathered more than 6,280 water quality samples from around the UK, with findings helping to show where pollution sources may be located.
“The results from three years of Water Blitzes have revealed that a number of bodies of water, particularly rivers and streams, have elevated nutrient concentrations (nitrates or phosphates) which puts these ecosystems at risk of eutrophication.”.
Earthwatch Europe explained that eutrophication occurs when there are excessive nutrients, typically nitrates and phosphates, used in fertilisers or released by poor wastewater management into watercourses.
This can lead to the growth of algal blooms, which can be harmful to human health and also deplete oxygen levels in the water, leading to an overall decline in biodiversity of birds, fish and aquatic plants.
“We encourage people to test any water anywhere – ponds and small streams are commonly tested as local volunteers have a good understanding of these areas and easy access to them,” said an Earthwatch spokesman.