Citizen scientists from Ealing and Hanwell have developed a system for monitoring pollution in rivers. The innovative devices were developed by members of the Clean Up the River Brent campaign (CURB) and are being deployed along the River Brent with the support of the Environment Agency (EA).
The Brent is impacted with poor sewerage infrastructure, runoff from roads, and waste discharges from commercial operators. The new devices will be placed at regular intervals along the river and will provide water quality readings every 15 minutes. The system also has its own Twitter account, @BrentMonitoring, which will provide frequent updates from along the river.
This will allow CURB and the EA to compile data and build up a picture of river pollution over time and will act as an early warning system for severe discharges, which environmental volunteers can then follow up with more detailed monitoring.
The system has been designed to be low cost so that it can be used by other volunteer groups. It is solar powered and uses a chip made by Raspberry Pi.
Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) trustee and founder of CURB, Ben Morris said: “We are very excited to have received the support of the Environment Agency, which will enable a catchment-wide roll out of this system, and are determined to raise the water quality in the Brent, which is badly degraded.”
Part two of our Friday posts from @Lewis_EA_ on his work on the River Brent.
This week, Ben Morris from 'Clean Up River Brent' talks about our joint work on monitoring water quality on the Brent.
Part one here – https://t.co/N5a8asUSDu#Brent #London #RiverBrent pic.twitter.com/bj6sxqwP4j
— Environment AgencySE (@EnvAgencySE) June 23, 2023
The inventor of the device, CURB campaigner Johnny Clifford added: “I’m delighted that the Environment Agency has chosen to support our trial. We’re hoping that live, low-cost monitoring can revolutionise how communities protect their precious rivers, and it starts here in the Brent Valley. My device costs less than a cheap mobile phone to build, so for the first time whole-catchment monitoring is in the reach of community organisations and citizen scientists.”
Public concern over sewage discharge into rivers has been rising as campaign groups like CURB have drawn attention to it.
In January this year, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee noted that “only 14% of English rivers meet good ecological status” and criticised the lack of investment in pollution monitoring by saying: “It is currently difficult to get a complete overview of the health of rivers due to outdated, underfunded and inadequate monitoring. Budget cuts to the Environment Agency have hampered the ability to monitor water quality in rivers and detect permit breaches or pollution incidents from the water industry and farming.”
According to CURB, volunteer groups are now attempting to fill that gap and should the trials prove successful, the device which it has developed will enable local groups around the country to monitor their rivers and provide essential information to the Environment Agency which will help with the task of reducing the high levels of pollution in England’s rivers. reducing the high levels of pollution in England’s rivers.
 and are being deployed along the River Brent with the support of the Environment Agency (EA).){kind=link}