Levels of pollutants in the UK's rivers are tested by random sampling, a method that experts say is decades out of date and not thorough enough to tackle the issues facing the waterways
The monitoring of UK rivers hasn’t been updated since the 1970s and gives just a snapshot of the state of water quality, hampering efforts to clean it up.. In England, for example, the Environment Agency collects water samples once a month to measure levels of pollutants such as phosphates and nitrates. These can lead to a reduction in oxygen in the water that suffocates aquatic animals and plants.
To mimic the EA’s sampling, Johnes analysed data collected from different rivers on the same date each month, comparing this with the original dataset. She found that only looking at water quality once a month misses important information about when phosphorus concentrations change. “The way in which we monitor rivers is highly variable in time and space,” says Johnes. “It’s not fit for purpose and hasn’t been for a long time.
According to Johnes and Lloyd, the solution to the river-monitoring uncertainties is to introduce more-intensive water quality checks and to be more targeted with when samples are collected. “If you want to find out how agriculture is affecting a river, then you need to collect samples after rainfall,” says Lloyd. “If you want to find out how sewage is affecting a river, then you need to collect samples near a sewage overflow after rainfall,” he says.
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