Non-profit Organization Takes Action on the Increasing Pollution on Rivers and Waterways

The public has been outraged by pollution in rivers and waterways in the last year. People are increasingly taking pollution monitoring into their own hands, according to the environmental organization Earthwatch.

John Pratt liked to fish on the Evenlode, a river that runs through the Cotswold Hills. He now takes a chemistry set. The river has been a part of his life as a resident for the past 33 years.

Citizen scientists join the fight to clean up rivers

(Photo : LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images)

So when the beautiful waters resembled soup one summer, Pratt was resolved to take action. Some people may participate in a demonstration or post photographs of filthy rivers on social media, but John became a citizen scientist.

He is one of the thousands throughout the country who are hopeful that their data will aid in the endeavor to clean up waterways. Thousands of people have protested sewage leaks in rivers and on beaches from Essex to Edinburgh this year. At the same time, there has been a surge of citizen scientists focusing on the health of the nation's rivers.

The public has a long history of participating in scientific studies in the United Kingdom, including counting the number of plants, birds, and insects. However, as more people spend time on the water, paddleboarding, or wild swimming, there is a rising interest in raising awareness about pollution, from trash to chemicals.

According to Earthwatch, which teaches citizen scientists, the number of community organizations monitoring chemical pollution has more than quadrupled in the last year. And citizen scientists are now taking more samples on this section of the Evenlode than anyone else.

Volunteers like John Pratt are trained by Earthwatch to test for nitrates and phosphates, which are substances present in fertilizer, sewage, and farm slurry. These are normally present in modest amounts, but in large concentrations, they may generate massive algal blooms and kill fish and animals.

The data collected by John on the Evenlode assists scientists and regulators with getting a better understanding of how pollution levels fluctuate over time.

"I'm simply one of many citizen scientists worried about the river's health," John says, gazing out over a region of remarkable natural beauty in Charlbury.

The Evenlode meanders through several communities before joining the Thames. Hilaire Belloc, an early twentieth-century poet, spoke about the "beautiful" Evenlode and how it connected his heart to English soil.

Nonetheless, the river is polluted now, producing weed growth, falling fish and bug populations, and cloudiness for most of the year. It is not by itself.

According to a study by MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee, England's rivers are "in a state of disarray," poisoned by "a toxic cocktail" of sewage, agricultural waste, and pollution. The biggest issue for the Evenlode, like with many rural rivers, is pollution from sewage and agricultural waste, according to Dr. Izzy Bishop, an ecology lecturer at UCL in London.

The "great rise" in people gathering data through citizen science is also helping to keep river pollution on the political agenda.

"One of the major factors for moving this up the political agenda is the visibility and transparency of data that is being collected by the public," she adds.

Read more: New Study Shows River Pollution Are Caused by Mixture of Chemical Cocktail

Things You Can Do To Reduce Water Pollution

Do not throw cooking fat or any other sort of fat, oil, or grease down the drain. Keep a "fat jar" beneath the sink to collect fat and dispose of it in the garbage when it is full, as per The Simsbury Connecticut.

Do not flush tablets, liquid or powder pharmaceuticals, or narcotics. For advice on how to properly dispose of various sorts of medical waste.

Do not use the toilet as a wastebasket. The majority of tissues, wrappers, dust cloths and other paper products should be disposed of in a wastebasket. Popular fiber-reinforced cleaning products should never be thrown away in the toilet. Use waste disposal sparingly. Solid waste should be kept solid. Compost food leftovers in a mound.

Install a water-saving toilet. Meanwhile, place a brick or a 1/2 gallon container in the normal toilet tank to limit the amount of water used every flush. Only use the dishwasher or clothes washer when there is a full load. This saves both power and water.

When washing clothes or dishes, use the least quantity of detergent and/or bleach possible. Only phosphate-free soaps and detergents should be used.

Reduce your usage of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. DO NOT DUMP these chemicals, motor oil, or other automotive fluids into sanitary or storm sewage systems. They both lead to the river.

Related article: Water Pollution: Orange Peels Can Suck Up Mercury, New Study Shows