VOLUNTEER citizen scientists have made this year’s World Rivers Day (WRD) extra special for us.
Taking place on Sunday 25 September, the international event promotes the wonder of rivers worldwide and the importance of protecting them from issues such as climate change and pollution.
This year, we celebrated reaching 10,000 river health surveys collected by our dedicated Westcountry Citizen Science Investigations (CSI) volunteers.
Lydia Ashworth, our Westcountry CSI coordinator said: “Given the pressures our rivers are facing such as the drought this summer and pollution issues, we are bolstered by the amazing effort of our citizen scientists who have been gathering this river health data since our scheme began in 2016.
“Reaching this milestone is a great achievement and represents around 250 waterbodies in our region, but with over 850 potential waterways to monitor, we want to encourage more people to get involved.
“Our CSI surveys, which can be done in your own time after training, include wildlife spotting, litter and pollution issues, invasive plants, water quality testing and more to build an ongoing picture of the state of our rivers which informs our work, and other relevant organisations, in restoring and protecting them.”
We also celebrated WRD at our litter pick at the Gannel, Newquay, in collaboration with recycled ocean plastic products company, Waterhaul, and supported the Salmon Run along the river Exe from the estuary to Exmoor with Tidelines and Wild Running.
Communications manager Josie Purcell said: “The people at our litter pick, supported through our Preventing Plastic Pollution project and Waterhaul with litter pick equipment, did an amazing job picking up 38kg of litter, 29kg of which were plastics.
“Our oldest find is an unopened beer can from 1989 – no, we didn’t drink it but it does show how long litter can remain in place.
“Collected by Cornwall Council’s Keep Cornwall Clean team on the same day, it means this litter is out of our river and sea and will be disposed of correctly.”
The Waterhaul team understand that as gateways to the ocean, rivers are a major factor in ocean plastic pollution, with approximately 4 million tonnes entering the ocean via rivers every year.
Their equipment coordinator Amy North said: “This is why we’re proud to support the Westcountry Rivers Trust and the efforts they go to, in order to protect and manage our river systems while supporting communities around them.”
Our fisheries technical officer Phil Turnbull shared his salmon knowledge with visitors to the Salmon Run, a community relay of 50 miles (80 km) in eight sections following the migration of Atlantic Salmon from sea to spawning ground which aims to raise awareness of environmental concerns.
Phil said: “It has been great to support the very first Salmon Run and speak with people who share our passion for our rivers about the incredible migration of salmon and the challenges they face on their journey to and from Exmoor.”
Our flagship Westcountry CSI project has helped inspire the £7million national pilot project CastCo which will devise a means to standardise volunteer monitoring across England. It is led by the river trust network’s umbrella organisation the Rivers Trust, United Utilities and partners, with funding through Ofwat’s first Water Breakthrough Challenge.
Visit wrt.org.uk/westcountry-csi or email [email protected] to get involved looking after freshwater habitats across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.