Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) secured a grant from the John Spedan Lewis Foundation to deliver SmartRivers water quality monitoring in South Bristol during 2024 and 2025. SmartRivers, led by WildFish, uses species-level macro-invertebrate data to assess the impact of pollution on river health. SmartRivers generates data that matches the standards used by regulatory bodies – bridging critical gaps in river monitoring caused by ongoing resource constraints.
BART’s Senior ecologist Jessy, conducted surveys at five urban watercourses – Ashton Brook, Pigeonhouse Stream, Malago Brook, Colliter’s Brook and Brislington Brook – in autumn 2024 and repeated the surveys in spring 2025 to establish a robust ecological baseline over 2 seasons.
The results revealed varying ecological conditions across the sites.
- Colliter’s Brook showed the highest diversity and water quality, supporting a healthy macro-invertebrate community.
- In contrast, Brislington Brook and Pigeonhouse Stream showed very low biodiversity and signs of severe water quality pressures, including high levels of pollution and siltation.
- Malago Brook and Ashton Brook also showed moderate to poor conditions, with restricted invertebrate communities likely due to pollution and habitat degradation.
- Across all sites, SmartRivers pressure scores flagged chemicals as a major concern. Siltation was also a major concern at all sites, with the exception of Colliter’s Brook. These findings highlight the need for further investigation, including targeted water quality monitoring, wet weather surveys and ongoing ecological assessments. BART plans to discuss these findings with stakeholders across the south Bristol sites, to discuss how these issues can be addressed and river health integrated into wider strategic planning.
This vital project will help guide future improvements and raise awareness of urban river health in South Bristol.
For more information and a detailed account of the results please find the report here: 23031_Macro-invertebrate monitoring summary report_Final
