Are you concerned about the health of your local river, stream or brook?

Do you have half an hour a month to spare?

Do you want to be part of research and become a "citizen scientist"?

If the answer to the above questions is yes, then we invite you to become one of our new Ock Water Watchers!

Water watchers test for pollution in their local river or stream regularly, usually once a month. The data collected helps to protect rivers. All of the data will be shared with the Environment Agency, Thames Water, local councils and the media, used to highlight issues in our local rivers and push for improvements and change.

For this training event, we are looking for citizen scientists who are interested in monitoring the upper Ock catchment: the rivers, streams and ditches in the Vale of White Horse.

The training event will cover:

• An introduction to river health and river pollution
• Introduction to citizen science for rivers
• How to take a freshwater watch sample (field demonstration)
• Collecting and uploading data to the freshwater watch website
• Selecting a sample site

This training event is run by Thames21 and the Letcombe Brook Project on behalf of the Ock Catchment Partnership. The Ock Catchment Partnership is a group of organisations and individuals with the aim of “working together to improve the entire freshwater environment of the Ock Catchment from its springs, fens, ponds and headwaters, along its tributaries and chalk streams to its floodplains and main rivers, so that it has more clean water, is more biodiverse, its communities experience reduced flooding, is resilient to climate destabilisation, provides water resources and is valued and used by local people.” More information here: https://freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/our-work/conservation-and-practical-delivery/catchment-partnerships/ock-catchment-partnership/