Water Quality Monitoring

The club has recently begun to take part in the Angling Trusts 'Water Quality Monitoring Network' (WQMN). The WQMN was launched by the Angling Trust in May 2022 as part of the 'Anglers Against Pollution' campaign.

The WQMN is made of of clubs and volunteers all undertaking water quality monitoring tests and activities to gather a large pool of data that will be used to monitor and understand the water quality of the UK's freshwater network. This information can then be used as evidence to support campaigns for improving water quality. The information gathered includes testing for Nitrates, Phosphates, Temperature and Electrical Conductivity. More information can be found here.

Some clubs have already escalated their results with the EA and local water companies. These include clubs in Enfield - Greater London, Cheshire and Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Mark and Steve taking the first WQMN readings

WQMN currently has 256 clubs signed up to take part all over the UK with testing taking place in over 200 rivers

The first annual report was published on 30th Jan 2024 covering the period of 2022/23. The report contains a great deal of data and information regarding water quality and includes a number of case studies. It really is worth a read, the report can be found here.

There is also a quarterly webinar update held via Zoom, the latest took place in January 2024 and the recording is below. The next scheduled webinar is due to take place in April.

Further links and information:

83% of English rivers have evidence of high pollution from sewage and agricultureExclusive: Hundreds of anglers take part in UK’s largest citizen science water-testing project

Angling Trust calls on political parties to deliver a clear plan to tackle river pollution in General Election manifestosUK’s largest citizen science water testing community finds 83% of rivers monitored failed phosphate standard for good ecological status in at least one test. 44% of site averages for phosphate failed standard for good ecological status. The Angling Trust has released details of the first annual Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) report, a crucial […]