ESSEX RIVERWATCH - BIG GIVE GREEN MATCH FUND
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Help us fund the Essex RiverWatch as we seek to raise £10,000 in match funds!
Coming soon! An exciting new citizen science project that will provide training and equipment to people across Essex so that they can gather vital data on water quality and river health.
What is the Essex RiverWatch project?
We want to support communities to set up action groups to survey and clean up their local rivers. Training will be provided for citizen scientists undertaking Essex RiverWatch to gather valuable data at the riverside for upload to an easy to use, publicly accessible, web tool.
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Click here to visit our fundraising page and donate
Situation: In 2023 only 6 out of 91 stretches of river in Essex were classified as being good ecological quality, the rest were moderate or poor. The rivers are affected by pollution and have lost much of their habitat through being modified for human use (drainage or navigation). Litter and debris in our rivers are an all too familiar sight. A survey by Essex County Council of Essex Residents in 2023 showed that river pollution was the top environmental concern out of sixteen environmental categories.
Solution: Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust, in partnership with the Essex Rivers Hub, want to enable local communities to get involved with learning more about the state of their river. We will provide training for citizen sxcience groups to use Essex RiverWatch to assess the health of their local river; collect and view the results and support groups in planning to take action to help restore and improve their local water environment as a place to love and care for.
Campaign Aims
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Set up a programme of RiverWatch with a minimum of five community groups in Essex, working with existing or new community groups interested in helping their local river.
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Recruit and train RiverWatchers who can lead communities to undertake RiverWatch surveys. Training will include how to complete the survey safely, what to do with the results and how to view data. The training will be provided in stages to ensure people feel supported.
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Clean-up the rivers in five community areas through immediate local action. For example, litter picking events supported by ESRT through to longer term action to restore the river by tackling pollution or improving the habitat for fish and other wildlife.
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Collate, review, and communicate the data and information collected by River Watchers to help identify pollution hotspots and regular polluters, enabling trends in data to be found.
“River surveying has proved invaluable in helping our community know what is happening to the River Brett as well as helping to build relationships with key partner organisations as we work towards cleaning up our rivers for people and wildlife.”
- Paul Hodgkin, Hadleigh Environmental Action Group
Click here to donate to our Big Give fundraising campaign
Every donation will have DOUBLE the IMPACT for Essex Rivers!
