The results are in and the Bristol Avon Waterblitz is now over! This is the first year that BART have run the Waterblitz, and it was a great success with 176 water quality samples taken and a total of 375 people involved!
Thanks to funding from the Bristol Avon Catchment Partnership and the Greggs Foundation, we worked in partnership with FreshWater Watch to get as many people as possible to take a water quality sample from their local river or stream. The water quality testing kits measured the concentration of nitrates and phosphates, which are naturally occuring chemicals in rivers and are essential for life, but in high concentrations caused by sources of human pollution they can degrade water quality and harm aquatic life.
We had a great response to the Waterblitz, with many volunteers keen to contribute and learn more about the quality of their local river. Samples were taken from all across the Bristol Avon catchment, and it was so interesting to find out how the concentration of nitrates and phosphates varies in different water bodies. The results collected will aid us in gaining a better understanding of the state of the river environment, and provide an evidence base for future work.
A Duke of Edinburgh group from Playwood Forest School getting involved with the monitoring
To view the summary of the results, including graphs, maps and statistics please click the links below:
To see the results on the Freshwater Watch interactive map, please follow the link below:
https://freshwaterwatch.thewaterhub.org/bristol-avon-water-blitz
A big thank you to all of our volunteers, the results you have collected are invaluable in helping us determine the health and quality of the freshwater bodies within the Bristol Avon catchment.
– Bristol Water and Wessex Water – Learn more about what you can do at home
