Volunteers are to begin testing the water in some of Britain’s most iconic rivers in a bid to save them from further decline.
The Rivers Test and Itchen are two of the world’s most famous chalk streams and form part of England’s impressive collection of these unique waterways.
We preside over around 85% of all the chalk streams on the planet, but these precious rivers are under a constant and growing threat from over-abstraction and pollution due to sewage and damaging farming practices.
With little being done by authorities to remedy the worrying situation, volunteers in the area have now taken matters into their own hands by signing up with the Angling Trust’s Water Quality Monitoring Network, under which they will use test kits to record the water quality of a dozen rivers in the catchment area.
“We need to arrest the decline and take action to promote improvement before it’s too late,” said Jem Dunn, Executive Director of the Test & Itchen Association.
“A catchment-wide programme has been organised, and we’ll analyse the resulting data and act on our findings.”
Volunteers from the Watercress & Waterbournes scheme are already monitoring river flies in the headwaters of the Test and Itchen. The organisation’s Kathryn Boler hopes that this, combined with findings from the WQMN, will help them to save these delicate running-water resources.
“The additional monitoring will complement our methods, helping us to understand the pressures on our chalk streams and identify places that need urgent action.”
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