Stream testers’ update

Our group of stream testers had our second get together on 13 June – again in Mawgan Village Hall – this time with Zoe Smith from Westcountry Rivers Trust, who attended on WhatsApp. Our thanks to her for persevering despite less than perfect signal. 

22 of us attended, of which 7 had not yet received testing kits from WRT. A search of Cartographer before the meeting showed 23 of our testers logging their results with the Citizen Science project, in all testing 41 sites. This is amazing!

Zoe introduced herself as a farm adviser for West Country Rivers Trust (WRT). She noted that the Lizard is comparatively well protected, with some designated Nitrate Vulnerable Zones and all of it under Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Therefore, we should have pretty clean water – and for this reason it might be that we do not have much regular testing from Southwest Water (water for drinking is not extracted from rivers on the Lizard), nor from the Environment Agency (who have had their budget severely reduced in recent years).

When selecting which site to test it makes sense to look for suspected contamination sites, such as just downstream of a sewage outlet or a dairy farm. Where two streams meet is a good place. If a problem is identified, WRT can search upstream for a source of contamination.

However, it’s good to know where the water is consistently good, too.

We are trying to get into catchment groups so that we can support one another. Some of us will communicate via small Whatsapp groups. It’s good to meet others testing the same stream but at a distance, up or down stream. Some of us feel we are getting to know the landscape which surrounds the streams, the people who live around them and the wildlife that they support.

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By Maggie Freegard