Friends of the River Wye are disappointed that water quality data volunteers collect is largely unused by Natural Resources Wales
Friends of the River Wye are disappointed that water quality data collected by their citizen scientists is going “largely unused” by Welsh Government environment watchdog Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
But NRW have told the environmental campaigners that they are prepared to meet next month to discuss how the Wye alliance can help them in the future with their work.
Friends of the River Wye runs the largest citizen science project in the Wye catchment and has been monitoring water quality since 2020.
Hundreds of volunteers test local streams and rivers on a weekly basis, and the group works alongside the Wye Salmon Association and CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) Herefordshire, as part of a Wye Alliance of citizen scientists.
Friends of the River Wye have been in touch with NRW and have asked for meetings every three months so that pollution hotspots identified from their data can be reviewed and action to address the problems discussed.
But NRW only want to meet them formally once a year.
Nicola Cutcher from Friends of the River Wye, said, “We’re beyond disappointed that NRW is showing a lack of interest in our findings.
“If we find high levels of phosphate or nitrate in a river, that’s an important indication that something is wrong.
“After four years of trying to get NRW to use our citizen science data, we feel like we’ve been banging our heads against a brick wall.”
Ms Cutcher said that the group understands that NRW has “suffered terrible budget cuts” in recent years and is “under-resourced.”
Ms Cutcher explained: “We set up our citizen science project precisely to provide free people-powered water quality monitoring to help fill gaps in their coverage.
“The fact that NRW has barely utilised this incredible resource for the last four years is a managerial failure and missed opportunity.
“We’re baffled that they seem to treat our data as an additional burden, rather than a valuable resource to help them do their job better.”
A statement by NRW has explained their position on receiving the water quality data.
NRW said: “Unfortunately NRW does not have the resources to deliver all of the support, discussion and collaboration requested by the Wye Alliance and other groups with similar aspirations across Wales.
“We will not be in a position to use volunteer water quality measurements alone to direct our immediate incident response.
“In order to use our limited resources effectively, we need to focus on the
work with the greatest potential to contribute towards our evidence needs and to support our work.
“Unfortunately, we will not be in a position to use volunteer water quality measurements alone to direct our immediate incident response.
NRW want the Wye alliance to support their work in other ways and these include: “Boots on the ground.
This means that NRW believes that having more citizen scientists out and about will increase the chances of pollution incidents being detected quickly.
NRW say that volunteers should “promptly report” any pollution they can clearly see or smell to NRWs 24 hour hotline: 03000 65300 or use the online form on their website to report the incident.
“This is very useful information,” say NRW.
They also suggest an annual meeting with the Wye Alliance possibly in September which would help “feed” further discussion on water quality at meetings of the Nutrient Management Board and Wye Catchment Partnership with other official bodies and agencies involved with the river.
