CaSTCo water quality testing: the role of citizen science in restoring the Wensum

Summary: 

CaSTCo (Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative) explores how citizen scientists can work alongside professionals to improve freshwater monitoring that can be used in decision-making. In Norfolk, we and the Wensum Catchment Partnership are part of this effort, focusing on the headwaters of the River Wensum and its tributaries. 

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Project description: 

Our rivers are facing significant challenges, with only 15% of England’s rivers meeting good ecological health under the Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2022). Pollution from chemicals, nutrients, urban run-off and sediments poses serious threats, making it essential to gather reliable data to identify problems and deploy solutions.

That’s where CaSTCo comes in. This initiative, active across eight pilot areas in the UK, is creating additional ways of monitoring water quality and collecting robust data on a larger scale. 

Here in Norfolk, we are proud to run this project on the Wensum, a chalk river designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). With support from the Wensum Catchment Partnership, we have formed a dedicated community of trained citizen scientists who collect weekly water samples at key locations along the river Wensum and its tributaries. Using simple, standardised tools, these volunteers test the levels of oxygen, phosphate, ammonia, pH, electrical conductivity and temperature, while also capturing observational data.

This data is shared with the Wensum Catchment Partnership and other stakeholders. Combined with Environment Agency data, it helps to build a robust evidence base for identifying effective water quality solutions and securing the funding needed to implement them.

Find out more about the UK CaSTCo project and explore the data collected so far here. 

Discover how citizen scientists played a pivotal role in addressing a pollution issue on the Wensum.

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Project actions and goals: 

• Build a network of trained citizen science volunteers to monitor water quality, enhancing understanding of river health and identifying pollution sources.
• Ensure data accuracy and reliability for integration into river catchment plans and restoration initiatives.
• Create a sense of community around our rivers and raise awareness of the issues affecting rivers and how they might be dealt with.
• Practice principles of good data governance – working towards a future where the data collected is open, FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable), trustworthy, secure, user-centred, ethical, and resilient. 

Partners and funders:

Collaboration is essential to improving the health of our rivers. We work closely with the Wensum Catchment Partnership, which includes the Environment Agency, The Rivers Trust and Anglian Water, on this project. We also extend our gratitude to the dedicated volunteers who visit their local river every week to collect samples.

The wider CaSTCo project received £7.1m of funding from The Ofwat Innovation Fund and brings together the expertise and backing from more than 30 organisations nationwide, including community and local partnerships, water companies, environmental charities, regulators, technical experts, academics, and the private sector.