National Lottery funds new water testing equipment for River Wye volunteers

CPRE Herefordshire has been awarded £11,723 from The National Lottery Community Fund to buy more water testing equipment for its River Wye citizen science project. Thanks to National Lottery players, our volunteers will be able to continue to test the Wye Catchment, producing stronger evidence to protect the river.

What the River Wye citizen science grant will pay for

The £11,723 grant will buy new water testing equipment for the volunteers who monitor the Wye and its tributaries across Herefordshire. Each week, they test for five measures of river health: phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, electrical conductivity and turbidity. Results are uploaded to the WyeViz dashboard, where anyone can see how water quality is changing across the catchment.

More equipment means more reliable readings from site to site and week to week. That consistency matters when the data is used to challenge pollution and to inform planning decisions that affect the river.

Why testing the River Wye matters

The River Wye is protected as a Special Area of Conservation, yet Natural England downgraded its condition to “unfavourable declining”. Using our Citizen Science data, the Environment Agency source apportionment modelling attributes around 72% of the phosphate load in the Wye catchment to agricultural land. All our data has heavily influenced both Herefordshire Council’s Nutrient Management plan and the Wye Catchment Partnership Plan.  

Regular, independent testing by local people helps show where pollution is happening, how it changes with the seasons and whether measures to reduce it are working. CPRE Herefordshire works alongside other groups in the Wye Alliance to build this shared picture of the river’s health.

Where can I see the results?

All results are published on the online WyeViz dashboard, which shows water quality readings from sites across the Wye catchment.

VIew WyeViz

Volunteer with our River Wye citizen science project

With new equipment on the way, we would like more people to join our testing team. You do not need a science background. We provide the kit, training and a field guide, and volunteers usually test a site near where they live once a month.

If you live near the Wye or one of its tributaries and would like to help, sign up below:

Sign up here

A huge thank you to all citizen science volunteers, whose commitment to the Wye makes this vital work possible.