As part of Soroptimist Bristol’s long-term project to raise awareness of and address the issue of pollution of water and how water quality can be improved four Soroptimists from SI Bristol registered to take part in the annual River Blitz project organised by Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART).
This year River Blitz covered the period 5th to 14th July and we joined many other Citizen Scientists in enabling BART to assess water quality in the BART catchment area. Having received our testing kits and equipped with wellington boots and rain coats we set off in three groups to visit locations in Coombe Dingle (River Trym and Hazel Brook) and on the River Avon in Bristol (at Cannon Bridge, Gaol Ferry Bridge and the Bridge near the Create Centre). Water was collected in test tubes and then tested by dipping dip sticks.
Samples were measured against a coloured sheet to show levels of phosphates and nitrates. We also surveyed the surroundings of each test area and looked at vegetation and the nature of the river bed and river banks. Between Bridget, Marion, Lizzie and Ivete, we collected 18 water samples, 9 to test for levels of phosphates and 9 to test for levels of nitrates. We submitted our test results, photos and observations of the surroundings by uploading them online to BART’s database. It is rewarding that those results can already be seen on BART’s website.