Last year, local environmental charity Welsh Dee Trust launched a citizen science scheme to identify sources of pollution in tributaries of the River Dee. Due to funding, this was mostly focused in England, however they are now putting out a call for citizen scientists in the upper parts of the catchment to join them in the fight to tackle pollution in the Dee.

Pollution from sewage, agriculture, industry and road drains are all having a significant impact on the wildlife of the Dee and people’s enjoyment of the river. Only 47% of the river’s water bodies are achieving ‘good’ or above status, required by UK legislation, and many of the rivers iconic and rare species are in decline.

22 citizen scientists have been monitoring pollution, specifically looking for high levels of phosphate, and more recently turbidity. To date, 97 sites have been monitored with 498 individual surveys, identifying 3 ongoing sources of pollution. The monitoring results are published online.

Welsh Dee Trust is providing training and testing equipment to individuals and groups across the Dee catchment, helping to build up a picture of which areas are suffering from pollution and identify the causes.

Training events are coming up in Corwen at 6-8pm on 24th May and 10am-12pm on 26th May. Citizen scientists should be willing to monitor up to 5 sites on their tributary once a month for at least 6 months. To get involved please email maddy@welshdeetrust.com