Dozens of volunteers will be heading to the River Nidd today as part of a project to find out how much E coli bacteria is in the water.
Around 40 people will be gathering near Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough to learn how to take valid samples from the Nidd – from the bankside and from bridges over the river.
The volunteers will then turn out again in force on August 3 to put their training into action and take samples from all stretches of the river from Scar House Reservoir at the top end of Nidderdale right down to Moor Monkton, where the Nidd joins the Ouse in the Vale of York.
They will repeat the process at the end of September, in an initiative that forms the centrepiece of an iNidd project organised by the Nidd Action Group (NAG).
All the water samples will be sent for laboratory testing to find out how polluted they are, both with faecal and chemical inflows.
David Clayden, chairman of NAG, said:
“We want to find the truth. I don’t think people know enough about the river. This whole project is about understanding the chemical and biological profile of the river, including the tributaries, specifically Oak Beck, Crimple Beck and possibly also Ripley Beck.
“It will give us data from all up and down the river, all taken on the same day, under the same conditions, which has never been done here before. A lot of preparatory work has gone into this and it’s all coming together very well. It’s very exciting.”
The samples will enable NAG to establish the concentration of faecal coliforms – or E coli – associated with human and pet health, nutrient chemicals such as phosphates and nitrates, and concentrations of heavy metals – all associated with the ecological balance of the river and the richness and variety of invertebrate and plant life.
Mr Clayden said:
“If a water sample is good, that’s great. But if it’s bad, we want to know what’s upstream of it – a sewage outlet, a farm, or a caravan park perhaps? We need to gauge the relative importance of different pollution sources.”
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NAG hopes to be able to publish the results of the lab tests in the autumn, around the same time that Andrew Jones MP is due to submit the case for River Nidd bathing water status for consideration by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs).
NAG is also working with the Environment Agency on an “outfall safari”, which involves walking along the river bank and spotting unmapped pipes and other sources of pollution.
Mr Clayden said:
“You’d think they would know where they all are, but they don’t. A lot of these pipes have just been wrongly connected, either intentionally or by accident, and they may come from any private property along the river bank.
“So we need volunteers to spot them and report on how much pollution they’re causing. It involves investigative, observational work, and some training may be given by the Environment Agency.”
NAG was formed in September 2022 after concerns about the quality of the water in the Nidd were raised by anglers and others. It now has 100 volunteers.
Mr Clayden said:
“It’s a nice community, and one thing they all have in common is that they all love the river.”
Anyone wanting to join them and get involved with research on the River Nidd should use the Get Involved page on the NAG website.