Environment Agency (EA), FreshWater Watch (FWW) and Riverfly Partnership (RFP) data will load for that area.
About
To find out about the health of the environment, there are lots of different things we can measure and lots of different ways to measure them.
By combining citizen science data with data from other sources we can start to build a clearer picture of what is happening in the environment.
To explore the data, click on a region on the map; Environment Agency (EA), FreshWater Watch (FWW) and Riverfly Partnership (RFP) data will load for that area.
Further suggestions on how to explore and interpret this data:
Datasets
The map contains data about pressures on the environment as well as the way wildlife is responding to those pressures. More datasets will be added over time.
Environment Agency (EA): Water quality data, including phosphate and nitrate as well as other important physical and chemical information. These sites are often measured repeatedly throughout the year on a monthly basis to show seasonal and annual changes.
FreshWater Watch (FWW): One-off water quality measurements recorded by citizen scientists. WaterBlitz events aim to gather as much comparable data as possible within a short time frame.
Riverfly Partnership (RFP): Aquatic invertebrate data collected under the Anglers Riverfly Monitoring Initiative. Sites with health scores that repeatedly fall below a 'trigger level' are subject to further investigation by the Environment Agency.
This data portal is a collaboration between UKCEH and Earthwatch. Using this 'integrated evidence base', we encourage citizen scientists to work with the Environment Agency and with one another to protect and improve the environment.
How to
Click on a catchment and zoom in to view data. Or click 'zoom to location' to zoom in to your area, then click the catchment.
Different datasets record different things. Toggle datasets on and off at the bottom left of the map. Hover over the dataset name to find out more about each dataset.
Hover over a datapoint to view basic information.
Filter the data by date using the date picker.
How to guide video
Create a graph to explore how data from a particular location has changed over time. Click on a point on the map to start. We recommend starting out with an Environment Agency (EA) datapoint.
View more information on each datapoint by clicking on them in the 'Selected sites' section. Clicking on Riverfly data, for example, reveals which groups of aquatic invertebrate have been recorded at that site.
Add more datapoints to your graph by clicking on them. Remove datapoints by clicking on the close (×) button by their name.
Click Clear selection to clear the site selection and graph tabs.
When viewing on a mobile device, selected sites and graphs appear below the map.
Ideas and inspiration
Look out for clusters of data on the map
One-off measurements are often less reliable than repeated measurements showing similar things. For example, if there are lots of measurements in one place showing low nutrients, it's a good indication that the water there is in a healthy state.
Compare data from different stretches of the same river
Conditions in rivers vary naturally from place to place due to changes in the underlying geology, water depth, and other factors. Human impacts can also cause differences from place to place. For example, pollution from 'point sources' such as sewage treatment works can cause elevated nutrient concentrations and reduced biodiversity immediately downstream of their location. Conditions can also be very different upstream and downstream of river tributaries. The shape of the waterbody, the speed of water flow, and the presence of plants and animals can impact conditions too.
See how data changes through time
You might be able to spot individual pollution or drought events, or even changes related to environmental restoration works.
Use your local knowledge
You are the expert when it comes to what is happening in your local area, and you might be able to apply this knowledge to explore the impacts of all of the things that are happening in rivers near you. Remember the 'before, after, upstream, downstream' rule. Rivers flow in one direction — if you can’t compare 'before and after' a known event, you can often still see the impacts of something specific by comparing conditions upstream and downstream of it.
