‘Citizen science’ river testing programme launched
A new programme has been launched by Love Our Ouse to monitor the health of the most poorly-rated part of the River Ouse, with local residents from Ringmer and Glynde conducting the testing. Natasha Padbury, co-director of Love Our Ouse explains more.
Love Our Ouse’s first extensive citizen science river monitoring programme is underway on Glynde Reach, a tributary of the lower Ouse.
Local residents from Ringmer and Glynde will be testing across a number of sites for phosphates, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. They will also be monitoring the river’s temperature and dissolved oxygen levels, as well as conducting visual surveys. Testers are also keen to link in local community arts projects.
Glynde Reach drains some 57km2 of land, incorporating part of Ringmer in the West, and Ripe in the East, and flowing through Glynde village in its middle reaches. It joins the River Ouse downstream of Lewes below the A27.
Glynde Reach faces many challenges and is the worst-rated waterbody in the River Ouse catchment. You can take a look at the Environment Agency Water Framework Directive data here.
We hope to build an important open-source data-set to help pinpoint key issues, enable community learning and inform action to enable this important water body to live, thrive and evolve.
The methodology has been created with the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust, the Environment Agency, ecologist Sandra Manning-Jones, with resources support from Western Sussex Rivers Trust. Water quality testing will run alongside other activities such as Riverfly invertebrate monitoring and duckweed management.
This project has been made possible with funding from Ouse Valley Climate Action, fundraising by Ringmer Arts Collective and donations from the Ouse Angling Preservation Society.
Thank you to Emma, Claire, Mark and Lucy for so generously committing to give their time over the next year to their local waterway and thank you to everyone involved to date.
We look forward to presenting results in a year’s time!
Learn more and get involved at loveourouse.org