River Wye: Volunteer scientists tackle water pollution

An army of volunteers is testing water quality in the River Wye to try and help tackle pollution in the river.

They want agencies to use the data collected to come up with a plan to improve water quality.

Volunteer Emily Tilling says she got involved after seeing "heartbreaking" pollution in a river near her home.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said it is exploring how they can work in partnership with others.

The Friends of the Upper Wye project, which started in March last year, has gathered more than 4,000 samples

More than 100 volunteers regularly test water quality near where they live, and across the six citizen science groups involved in the project there are more than 400 volunteers.

Emily Tilling joined Friends of the Upper Wye, which now has more than 100 volunteers who regularly test the water

'Heartbreaking'

Ms Tilling, from near Glasbury in Powys, tests the water in two locations twice a week.

She said she got involved after seeing a "heartbreaking" pollution incident in July 2020 in the River Llynfi, a tributary of the Wye, which flows across the bottom of her garden.

"There was this terrible smell, it really caught you in the back of the throat, the water was sort of bubbling and that was all of the baby fish struggling to breathe and coming to the surface.

"It was horrible, it was the sort of thing you'd see in a horror film. You knew something awful was going on in that water.

"I'd taken it for granted that it was a safe haven for nature, it was safe for the kids to swim in, safe for the dogs," she said.

Ffion is worried about the algae in the river and if it would affect her, she regularly tests the water along with her family

'Green and slimy'

Eight year-old Ffion also has a stream at the bottom of her family's garden, and has started testing the water regularly after being trained by other volunteers.

She said: "There's this algae on the stones which hasn't been there before, its green and slimy.

"It's not a very nice feeling because, you know it's not a natural source… what will happen to me if I swallow it?"

Tom Tibbits is chair of Friends of the Upper Wye, one of a network of citizen science groups regularly testing the river.

Volunteer scientists hope increased testing can help tackle water pollution in the iconic wye valley

He says statutory water quality monitoring by regulators, the Environment Agency in England and NRW, has been "cut to the bone" and limited to "a few sampling points once a month if you're lucky".

"I get the feeling on the English side of the border that we're being taken very seriously," he said.

"But the relationship with Natural Resources Wales has been slower to develop."

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said that citizen science data "will be used in conjunction with our other datasets to help us target our resources".

The volunteers want to see the data they have collected used by the agencies responsible for protecting the river to inform policy and action

'Fill data gaps'

Elle Von Benzon, 30, is a PHD student in Biosciences at Cardiff University and has been working with the citizen science groups across the Wye catchment to ensure the methodology is consistent across 400 volunteers.

She said: "The dedication of volunteers has been incredible, it's been beyond what we imagined.

"What citizen science has a really powerful ability to do is help "fill those data gaps" left by professional bodies, whose water quality data is "currently quite limited."

She said volunteers need feedback on "how it's being used to drive action on the ground" to keep them "motivated and to keep them out monitoring regularly, which is what we really need".

The project is supported by Cardiff University and its support has helped prove the data collected by volunteers is valid and comparable to lab testing carried out by agencies like Natural Resources Wales.

NRW's head of place for mid Wales, Gavin Bown, said: "NRW is already exploring the potential of citizen science and collaborative partnerships alongside our own monitoring to contribute to the shared challenge of improving water quality including that of the River Wye."

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