Are you concerned about pollution of the Thames/Isis and other rivers and streams in Oxford?

Do you have some time to spare (30 mins per month)?

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 Oxford Water Watchers!

Water watchers test for:

1.       Nutrient pollution (indicates how healthy the river ecosystem is), and

2.       Bacterial pollution (indicates how clean/dirty the water is for recreation, some sites only).

The data they collect helps to protect rivers. All the data is 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 in the city of Oxford, particularly at sites with lots of river users (e.g. Tumbling Bay, Port Meadow, Longbridges), and the Boundary Brook.

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)
• How to test for bacteria in rivers (field demonstration)
• Collecting and uploading data
• Selecting a sample site

This training event is run by Thames21 in collaboration with Makespace on behalf of the Ock Catchment Partnership. More information here: https://freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/our-work/conservation-and-practical-delivery/catchment-partnerships/ock-catchment-partnership/