A charity in Pateley Bridge is recruiting volunteers to take part in a project to improve the quality of the River Nidd.
Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust received £500,000 from Yorkshire Water last year after the company breached its permitted level of sewage discharge into Hookstone Beck, in Harrogate. The incident in 2016 led to the loss of fish and invertebrates.
The trust has now joined forces with the Wild Trout Trust and Nidd Action Group to deliver the iNidd scheme to improve the river and is seeking volunteers.
Charlotte Simons, senior project manager at the trust, said:
“The £500,000 payment has enabled us to redouble our efforts in monitoring the health of the River Nidd and its tributaries, which will help us target our restoration plan.
“The appointment of a river enhancement project manager to oversee this iNidd workstream means that we have been able to start building partnerships and are now ready to recruit a cohort of volunteers, who will be specially trained to support the programme.”
The charity is looking for 20 people to join the riverfly monitoring programme and monitor aquatic invertebrate populations in a certain part of the river.
Volunteers will be required between May and September. No prior experience is needed.
Ms Simons added:
“Riverfly monitoring is a vital tool in establishing the overall health of a stretch of river, since testing the chemistry of the river water only offers a snapshot of actual pollution levels.
“Animals in our rivers respond to water quality throughout their whole life span with many aquatic invertebrates such as caddisfly and dragonfly larvae and nymphs not able to survive in polluted water, so their presence or absence is a very strong indicator of pollution levels.”
The trust said all training, equipment and protective gear will be provided.
To sign up, email [email protected].
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