Friends of the River Wye citizen science project

Organisation: 

Friends of the River Wye  

Action: 

Monitor nutrient levels and water quality as part of a community citizen science project. High nutrient levels in the Wye and its tributaries are feeding algal blooms which are damaging the river. Friends of the River Wye would like to undertake more regular testing at many more locations - which is where people power can make a real difference! 

Wye citizen science water quality monitoring field guide

Location: 

Volunteers who live near the River Wye or Lugg, or a small stream or brook which feeds into these catchments 

Level of commitment: 

Volunteers will need to be willing to test their local patch regularly (twice a week) 

Performing the test and uploading results should take around ten to fifteen minutes each time 

Training required: 

Friends of the River Wye will provide all the training. There is a guide here: https://friendsoftheriverwye.org.uk/citizen-science-training 

This manual is designed for use in the field and volunteers will be issued with a printed version of this booklet at a training session. 

Kit needed/provided: 

• FORW supply all volunteers with the following basic kit: 
• HM Digital EC3 probe (to measure conductivity and temperature) 
• Hanna Phosphate checkers and reagent 
• Hach Nitrate test strips 
• Turbidity Tube 
• Syringe 
• Safety gear (gloves and safety glasses) 
• Field guide 

Each volunteer will need to source their own vessel for taking a water sample and advice about how to do that is included in the training. A smart phone with ability to download an App called Epicollect5 will be needed to record data. 

Outcome: 

Better monitoring will help to find out where nutrients, particularly phosphates, are entering our watercourses so that we can identify pollution hotspots and use that information to drive change to clean up our rivers. 

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