Health survey of local river, in Spring Big River Watch from The Rivers Trust

From 3^rd May 2024, 2,400 people spent time surveying their local river, working together to submit 1,500 surveys for The Rivers Trust’s Spring Big River Watch. River health and water quality has become an issue of increasing importance to the public, and many people and community groups want to be part of restoring rivers.

2,400 people surveyed the health of their local river in the Spring Big River Watch from The Rivers Trust

The Big River Watch is a bi-annual, free citizen science activity that gathers information about river health, used in the fight to clean them up. From all corners of the UK and Ireland, members of the public recorded what they saw by the river (including wildlife, pollution, litter and water colour) as well as how they felt

. Time spent in nature supports our wellbeing, so they were also encouraged to spend a few moments being present and noticing positive things while on the riverbank. Today we’re launching a new data explorer so that everyone can dig into the results.

The results

• Together, we spent over 25 days watching and surveying our rivers.
• 61% of surveys recorded at least one sign of pollution.
  • Silt was the most commonly reported pollutant in 33% of all surveys, followed by livestock (15%).
  • 112 (7.6%) of surveys reported sewage, and 110 (7.5%) reported sewage fungus.
• 53% of surveys reported seeing litter, from shopping trolleys to plastic cartons.
• 63% of Big River Watchers report that they felt their river looked healthy, and only 25% feel they were looking at an unhealthy river.
  • But it’s unlikely that they were actually healthy. In our 2024 State of Our Rivers Report, we shared that in England alone, no single stretch of river achieved good overall status, and just 15% reached good ecological status.
• 38% of participants were new to citizen science.
• 26% of surveys in the Spring Big River Watch recorded riverflies, while just 11% recorded them in the Autumn Big River Watch (September 2023).

Explore the data yourself

The Rivers Trust have launched an interactive Big River Watch Data Explorer, so that anyone who took part or is interested in the health of their local blue space can find out what participants recorded: https://theriverstrust.org/big-river-watch-data-explorer

This data is publicly available, so journalists, community groups and organisations including local Rivers Trusts can use the data to inform their own campaigns and river restoration work.

Zoom in on the map, and you’ll also see the official Water Framework Directive (WFD) ecological status of each river. This makes clear the disconnect between perceived river health and the often unseen issues, such as chemical pollution, that can be identified with further monitoring.

What’s next? This was the second Big River Watch. The first took place in September 2023 when the app and citizen science project was launched, and the next will begin on 5^th September 2024.

What is the Big River Watch?

The Big River Watch is an entry level citizen science survey that anyone can take part in using a free bespoke app. We’re aiming for it to be the UK and Ireland’s biggest ever mass participation survey of river health. It has no training requirement and helps to raise awareness of what a healthy river looks like.

The Big River Watch empowers people to develop a stronger relationship with their local river, signposting them to further activities such as volunteering with their local Rivers Trust if they like. It is repeated twice a year – once in the spring and once in the autumn.

Quote from Mark Lloyd, CEO of The Rivers Trust

“We know our rivers are in trouble, and we also know that the picture we currently have of their health is a blurry one. We need more information to sharpen up that image, and to better understand exactly how and where we can work to restore our vital waterways.

I’d like to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who joined us and took part in the Spring Big River Watch, it’s fantastic to see surveys being submitted from all across the UK and Ireland. Today, I invite everyone to find out more about their local river by exploring the new Big River Watch Data Explorer, which launches today and shares the survey results on an interactive map, and which also shows the official Water Framework Directive (WFD) health assessment classifications of our rivers.”

Quote from Imogen Grant, Olympian, Team GB Rower and The Rivers Trust Ambassador

“So many people love their local river and want to see it thrive, and over 2,400 took time out of their week to help protect their local blue space. I was delighted to help bring Big River Watch to the rowing community this year at BUCS Regatta. Rowers, like other water users, have a unique relationship with their river’s health and can be part of data gathering opportunities like this to become real champions for healthy waterways. I’m excited for the opportunity to inspire even more people to participate in September.”

See more articles here.