About this dataset
Sewage pollution, road runoff and agricultural pollution are the main factors negatively impacting the water quality in the catchment. Two 'WaterBlitzes' were carried out from 2022-2023 to provide a snapshot of the impact of sewage pollution on the catchment's water quality around the catchment. More information and the results can be found here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/7f99c7078eaf46a0866a4e2a57bb82a6.
As a result of these WaterBlitzes, we could see where the sewage pollution hotspots and sites with good water quality were located. This has allowed us to set up monitoring sites at some of these locations to gather more regular water quality data in order to investigate the magnitude and source of the pollution and to gather baseline data.
Dissolved phosphate and ammonia are indicators of sewage pollution, so the dedicated citizen scientists of the Brent's WQWG are monitoring these sites using:
Hanna checkers for phosphates (low-range) from 0.0 to 2.5 mg/L
Hanna checkers for ammonia (low-range) from 0 to 3 mg/L and ammonia (medium range) from 0.00 to 9.99 mg/L
Some of these monitoring sites are also being monitored by citizen scientists using the urban riverfly monitoring initiative (RMI) methodology and devices that measure physical parameters like temperature, pH and turbidity.
Certification requirements
Trained either through Thames21 Aqua Tracker Course, or via an in-person demonstration.
