Water Quality Monitoring
- Tim Scott
- Nov 22
- 2 min read
For the Angling Trust
The Angling Trust Water Quality Monitoring Network was launched in May 2022 as part of our Anglers Against Pollution campaign to engage anglers and angling clubs in better understanding pollution issues on their waters.
The initial pilot project focused on the River Severn catchment and was rolled out nationally two months later. It now has the support of over 200 clubs.
I joined the initiative soon after it launched with the support of the Club as we were already undertaking the River Fly monitoring along the Wharfe and Skirfare. I didn't think that the additional time and effort would be too onerous and the results would add to our knowledge of the rivers.
We monitor the rivers for:
Temperature
Electrical Conductivity (gives an indication of dissolved solids in the water)
Phosphate (from agricultural waste, fertilisers, sewage etc)
Nitrate (ditto)
Ammonia (ditto)
The findings from water quality tests taken by us and other club volunteers will help the Angling Trust hold the government to account, ensuring it lives up to its rhetoric on improving our environment and meeting its own legal responsibilities, and support local initiatives to restore our rivers to a healthy state.
We have tried to undertake the sampling on a monthly basis but we have found that quite hard over the winter months due to high river levels, weather, illness and other commitments. However, we have collated a resonable set of results that seem to demonstrate the general good water quality of the Wharfe and Skirfare.
Recently we have experienced and issue with a batch of Nitrate test dip sticks which we believe were contaminated and gave a consistent reading of two. I have highlighted this in the results tables.
Our Results
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