Water quality – Riverfly Monitoring

By regularly monitoring its plants and animals, we can find out how healthy the river is. The type and number of freshwater invertebrates (small aquatic insects and other creatures living in the river itself) found in a river are one of the best measures of a river’s health.

Riverfly Monitoring is a nationwide scheme, originally aimed at angling groups. Volunteers sample the populations of freshwater invertebrates at specific points every month. Over time, this allows a record of the river’s water quality and general health to be built up.

By using volunteers in this way, the water quality in a river can be checked much more frequently than if the monitoring was left to statutory organisations. As well as providing a general picture of the river’s health, it allows pollution events to be detected quickly and action taken to limit their impacts.

Plans are already underway to train a team of Riverfly volunteers, who will then monitor the invertebrates along the entire length of the Stort. Once monitoring is underway, the results will be posted here, so check back regularly!