One of the things many of us have done over this last year is
spend more time enjoying nature in our local areas. Some of us
might be lucky enough to have a river nearby to walk along and
enjoy. You might even have seen some wonderful wildlife; Kingfisher
or perhaps an Otter if you have been very fortunate. But have you
ever wondered about the health of our rivers? There has been quite
a lot of publicity given to pollution issues recently from sewage
and run-off etc and you might have been wondering what's happening
in your local patch of river.
The Environment Agency monitors the health of our rivers, and
they have been reporting on the Creedy Catchment since 2009 under
the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD). Each year,
along with other rivers, it is classified according to a
combination of elements including fish, aquatic invertebrates,
water quality (phosphate, dissolved oxygen, ammonia) and river
morphology (shape and structure of the river channel). Rivers can
be classified as High, Good, Moderate, Poor or Bad status - the
original aim of the WFD was that all rivers would reach 'Good'
status by 2015, that's since been put back to 2027 and now even
this deadline is uncertain. Many of the waterbodies in the Creedy
catchment are classed as in a Poor status and the Lower Creedy is
sadly in a Bad status for these measures. This catchment covers a
huge area, with tributaries from Whiddon Down in the west to
Shoebrooke in the East and from Way Village in the north to where
it joins the River Exe near Cowley Bridge to the south.
The Westcountry Rivers Trust run a volunteer river monitoring
scheme called Westcountry CSI (Citizen Science Investigations) and
they are looking for more volunteers to survey the River Creedy and
its tributaries. We have over 400 people signed up across the
Westcountry - from West Cornwall to Somerset, and between them they
have logged approaching 1000 surveys this year alone. But the
Creedy catchment could really be helped by some more volunteers. I
have taken on two spots near Newton St Cyres and am really enjoying
learning more about the state of health of my local patch of the
river system. Several others have recently joined in too but we
could really do with more volunteers for the Rivers Yeo, Culvery,
Troney and Colebrook.
Westcountry CSI includes a survey form prompting volunteers to
record photographs and data on river flows, water level, wildlife
spotted and pollution sources. They will suggest survey locations
and provide water quality test kits for dissolved solids, suspended
sediment and phosphate - some of the key indicators which are
scoring so badly in parts of the catchment. This might sound
complicated but it's very straightforward and there is lots of help
available to get you started. All that information is uploaded to
an interactive map where it can be viewed online. Ideally people
will sign up to survey one or more locations at least once a month,
each survey should only take around 10 to 15 minutes, so I find
it's a easy job to do and you get to chat about your results to
other walkers. I find people are really interested to know what you
are up to!
This information we provide will help the Trust to highlight the
good things about the River Creedy catchment and find out more
about those issues that are causing it to fail. The Westcountry
Rivers Trust will then be able to work with local residents and
government bodies to come up with a plan to reverse the fortunes of
this much loved river system. For more information check out their
website or email: csi@wrt.org.uk to discuss any spots where you
would like to do some sampling or email me. And by the way, it's a
great way for kids to get involved and learn about their
environment too!
Sue Rowell
01/09/2021