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Wales Online
5 days ago
- Health
- Wales Online
Hundreds of ordinary people sampled rivers in Wales and this is what they found
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Rivers in southern Gwynedd are amongst the cleanest in the UK, a citizen science initiative has revealed. Elsewhere in Wales, water quality is poorer – but nowhere near as bad as in England. This year's Great UK WaterBlitz showed that 37% of water samples in Wales contained unacceptable levels of nutrient pollution, compared to 74% in England. No nutrient pollution – nitrates and phosphates – were found in any of Meirionydd's rivers. The Llŷn and Eryri river basin fared well too, with just 12% of sampling points showing significant levels of nutrient pollution. For the Tawe to Cadoxton catchments in southwest Wales, the figure was around 27%. However, water quality was poorer elsewhere. In the Dee catchment, nutrient pollution was measured at 40%, while on Anglesey 43% of the island's rivers were found to be degraded. A little better, but still failing, was the Teifi and North Ceredigion river basins (48%). Worst offender were the Cleddau and Pembrokeshire Coastal Rivers where nitrates and phosphates were found in almost seven in 10 waterways. Across the UK, the worst places for water quality were the Thames and Anglian river districts. Here, fewer than 14% of measurements showed clean water based on 1,335 samples. While Wales compared favourably with England, the country's 37% failure rate was worse than in Scotland and Northern Ireland (both 30%). The North Wales Live Whatsapp community for top stories and breaking news is live now - here's how to sign up (Image: Earthwatch Europe) Dr Sasha Woods, director of science and policy at Earthwatch Europe, said the UK-wide picture is one of rivers 'suffocating under relentless pollution - sewage, tyre particles, fertilisers'. She added: 'While the situation in Wales is better than in England, over half of the sites tested in Wales still show unacceptable levels of pollution. This demonstrates a clear need for action to address the issues impacting Welsh rivers and protect these vital resources.' Nitrates and phosphates occur naturally in the environment and are essential for plant growth. But high concentrations cause excessive growth which decreases oxygen concentrations, negatively impacting aquatic plants and animals. According to Environment Agency figures, farming accounts for 50-60% of nitrate pollution while sewage effluent contributes 73% of phosphates. The Great UK WaterBlitz, organised by Earthwatch Europe, saw 7,978 citizen scientists test 4,017 freshwater sites in the UK late April. For the study, E coli bacteria levels were also measured in 301 sites. Of these, 24% indicated the water was too poor to swim in. Earthwatch Europe found a link between E coli and phosphate (sewage) levels, but not between E coli and nitrate levels. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Separate surveys are carried out for bathing waters off the UK coast – in Wales these are overseen by Natural Resources Wales. The 44 North Wales beaches that are best and worst for swimming can be found here. Public notices in your area
North Wales Live
5 days ago
- Health
- North Wales Live
Hundreds of ordinary people sampled rivers in Wales and this is what they found
Rivers in southern Gwynedd are amongst the cleanest in the UK, a citizen science initiative has revealed. Elsewhere in Wales, water quality is poorer – but nowhere near as bad as in England. This year's Great UK WaterBlitz showed that 37% of water samples in Wales contained unacceptable levels of nutrient pollution, compared to 74% in England. No nutrient pollution – nitrates and phosphates – were found in any of Meirionydd's rivers. The Llŷn and Eryri river basin fared well too, with just 12% of sampling points showing significant levels of nutrient pollution. For the Tawe to Cadoxton catchments in southwest Wales, the figure was around 27%. However, water quality was poorer elsewhere. In the Dee catchment, nutrient pollution was measured at 40%, while on Anglesey 43% of the island's rivers were found to be degraded. A little better, but still failing, was the Teifi and North Ceredigion river basins (48%). Worst offender were the Cleddau and Pembrokeshire Coastal Rivers where nitrates and phosphates were found in almost seven in 10 waterways. Across the UK, the worst places for water quality were the Thames and Anglian river districts. Here, fewer than 14% of measurements showed clean water based on 1,335 samples. While Wales compared favourably with England, the country's 37% failure rate was worse than in Scotland and Northern Ireland (both 30%). Dr Sasha Woods, director of science and policy at Earthwatch Europe, said the UK-wide picture is one of rivers 'suffocating under relentless pollution - sewage, tyre particles, fertilisers'. She added: 'While the situation in Wales is better than in England, over half of the sites tested in Wales still show unacceptable levels of pollution. This demonstrates a clear need for action to address the issues impacting Welsh rivers and protect these vital resources.' Nitrates and phosphates occur naturally in the environment and are essential for plant growth. But high concentrations cause excessive growth which decreases oxygen concentrations, negatively impacting aquatic plants and animals. According to Environment Agency figures, farming accounts for 50-60% of nitrate pollution while sewage effluent contributes 73% of phosphates. The Great UK WaterBlitz, organised by Earthwatch Europe, saw 7,978 citizen scientists test 4,017 freshwater sites in the UK late April. For the study, E coli bacteria levels were also measured in 301 sites. Of these, 24% indicated the water was too poor to swim in. Earthwatch Europe found a link between E coli and phosphate (sewage) levels, but not between E coli and nitrate levels. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Separate surveys are carried out for bathing waters off the UK coast – in Wales these are overseen by Natural Resources Wales. The 44 North Wales beaches that are best and worst for swimming can be found here.
The Star
13-05-2025
- Health
- The Star
Citizen scientists to the rescue
THE plight of Britain's polluted rivers is no secret, but an army of citizen scientists set out recently to measure the scale of the problem, hoping to plug knowledge gaps exacerbated by cutbacks at a key environmental regulator. Thousands of volunteers in 90 locations across the country took part in the Great UK WaterBlitz, organised by the environmental charity Earthwatch Europe, testing local rivers and lakes for nitrates, phosphates and other pollutants. The charity will analyse the results and pass them onto the Environment Agency (EA), the government body responsible for waste management, conservation and managing water pollution, in a bid to improve the health of the country's water. The state of Britain's waterways has become a public scandal with privatised water companies widely condemned for pumping raw sewage into rivers and seas. The National Audit Office, an independent parliamentary body, said in a new report that water infrastructure needed an estimated £47bil (RM268.4bil) of investment over the next five years to fix infrastructure and clean up rivers and seas. 'The EA is doing what it can to monitor and manage our waterways. They have increased the number of boots on the ground ... but realistically they just don't have the resources – time, tests or people,' said Earthwatch Europe's science and policy director Sasha Woods. 'This is where citizen science is so incredibly powerful. It is the catalyst for meaningful environmental change – ordinary people coming together in their thousands to create something extraordinary,' Woods said. Earthwatch Europe said it would also use the results of the mass testing to hold water companies to account for not keeping waterways clean. The last Earthwatch Europe testing blitz in September revealed significant levels of drugs, including antidepressants, as well as agricultural contaminants and even traces of stimulants like nicotine, which the EA started monitoring based on the findings, and caffeine. Lawmakers accused the companies late last year of prioritising dividends and management bonuses over investment, leaving critical infrastructure to degrade. In October, Britain's regulator ordered water companies to return millions of pounds to customers for failing to meet environmental regulations. Water company bosses can now also face criminal charges if they break environmental rules. Water UK, which represents the companies, said in October that performance was not what it should be, but improvements had been made. Dirty waterways can harm wildlife, ecosystems and human health, and activities like farming and fishing. 'More polluted water requires more treatment, and if we don't monitor what is going into our rivers, we won't know exactly what contaminants we need to remove,' said Woods. Britain's drinking water is among the safest in the world, she added. 'But if we don't stop polluting our freshwater systems, this may not always be the case.' Meanwhile, significant cuts to the EA have made statutory monitoring more difficult, according to Earthwatch Europe and environmental charity The Rivers Trust. Funding for the EA's enforcement work fell by 80%, from £117mil in 2010 to £23mil in 2020, the National Audit Office said. The EA said it was intensifying efforts to hold water companies accountable, testing 4,536 sites last year and aiming for 10,000 inspections this year. For Keri and Annette Lloyd, who run the non-profit community Friends of Bilbrook in South Staffordshire in central England, this blitz builds on work they are already doing. Every month, they test their local river for ammonia, water temperature and acidity and pass on the information to water supplier Severn Trent and to open-sourced data platforms such as FreshWater Watch, also run by Earthwatch Europe. They would like to see a stronger relationship between authorities and residents and said the EA has not been to Bilbrook to sample the water since 2022. '(We use) the old mantra of 'love where you live',' said Keri Lloyd, explaining that he felt the data they collected was not always being used effectively. 'We want it to be valued.' The EA said there were several sampling points near Bilbrook, and the site was monitored on a five-year cycle, to be re-sampled in 2027. 'We are unable to carry out monitoring at all of our sampling points every year,' it said. Michelle Walker, technical director of The Rivers Trust, said citizen science provided valuable resources, especially as government agencies tighten budgets. 'The government doesn't collect much (national data) anymore, and the national data sets are full of holes in time and space,' she said. The trust is working with other organisations to develop national standards for citizen testing, including methods for monitoring water quality, fish populations, macroinvertebrates, bacteria, soil and more, and give citizen science more credibility. 'We encourage an open approach to data gathering and are collaborating across the country with citizen scientists ... but this can't replace all of the other reasons we monitor,' the EA said. Further funding to improve citizen research could come from the billions of pounds set to be spent on monitoring combined sewer overflows, which are pipes that release raw sewage into the environment during heavy rain, Walker said. Building a standardised citizen science programme 'would cost a fraction of what the EA already spends on monitoring and what the water industry is about to spend on theirs', she added. 'You (can) start to engage people about rivers (and) they become advocates for their river. They form friends of the river groups and start to raise funding locally to do habitat improvements. It will return that investment so many times over.' — Reuters
Euronews
17-02-2025
- General
- Euronews
'Magnets for human connection': Why Japanese ‘micro-forests' are transforming our cities
Between busy streets, parks and shopping centres, a green transformation is quietly underway, bringing nature back to the urban sprawl of cities. Micro-forests, small areas of densely planted woodland trees, are being planted everywhere from London to Los Angeles. But what are they and how can they make our built-up metropolises better? What are micro-forests and why do we need them? More than 420 million hectares of forest have been lost to other uses since 1990, according to the UN's 2020 State of the World's Forests Report. With more than 85 per cent of the global population living in urban areas, micro-forests in cities offer an essential opportunity to combat deforestation. The Miyawaki Forest Technique, invented by Japanese botanist and plant ecology expert Professor Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s, is the inspiration for micro-forests worldwide. These diverse, organic small forests can be created on sites as small as nine square metres, and only use native species that would otherwise grow naturally in the planting area. They grow up to 10 times faster than monoculture forests, in just two to three decades. Since Miyawaki's work began, more than 280 micro-forests have been planted. NGO Earthwatch Europe has planted 285 tiny forests since 2022. Their plots, made up of 600 trees, can attract more than 500 animal and plant species within the first three years. Locations include a sports ground and park in Haringey, North London. Meanwhile 'SUGi', a tree-planting programme which aims to restore biodiversity and reintroduce native species, has created 230 'pocket forests' in 52 cities across the world, from Toulouse, France, to Saint George in Romania and Madrid, Spain. How do micro-forests benefit the environment? In polluted urban areas, micro-forests can help to restore soil, water and air quality, according to the Woodland Trust. Their small size allows plantation in relatively limited urban space, often taking advantage of unused spaces such as school playgrounds, cemeteries, and near metro stations. They can also help to reduce the impact of heavy rainfall, and to keep towns and cities cooler. They become magnets for human connection Elise Van Middelem Founder and CEO of SUGi. Micro-forests can create more habitats for wildlife in cities, such as blackbirds or hedgehogs. When planted in distinct layers, they can also develop plant communities of smaller shrubs and herbs, which allow the micro-forests to become self-sustaining after just three to five years of growth. 'Our pocket forests offer a myriad of benefits' says Elise Van Middelem, Founder and CEO of SUGi. 'Perhaps most importantly, they can support the positive well-being of communities. From a psychological perspective, interacting with nature reduces physical stress and can improve symptoms of mental ill health, including anxiety or depression.' 'They become magnets for human connection. People take respite during the heat of the day or visit to read a book; at other times the forest becomes a place of dancing, learning, discussion, and leisure. They are self-sustaining within 2-3 years from an ecological standpoint, but at a much deeper level, community members become stewards of the land itself.' She adds: 'They also positively impact children and youth. 140 of our pocket forests were planted in schools together with almost 80,000 children. Planting pocket forests provides children with a unique opportunity to engage with nature and see that their actions can have tangible environmental outcomes. Engaging the next generation with nature is critical, because in order for us to want to protect and care for nature, we need to feel a connection with it' What are the challenges of planting in urban areas? Despite the benefits of urban micro-forests, there are also issues involved in growing in cities. Exposure to pollutants, high temperatures and drought can prevent deep root growth, and increase the likelihood of disease, according to Cities4Forests, a global alliance supporting nature in cities. Van Middelem also highlights the challenge of gaining communities' support in growing micro-forests: 'It is necessary to effectively engage stakeholders in the community and get resident buy-in. A pocket forest cannot be planted without their approval', she says. 'However, none of these challenges are insurmountable.' These are all issues that must be considered - but with time, micro-forests could help to reduce pollution in cities as well as making them more pleasant places to live.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New 'pocket forests' are transforming cities in a quiet way: 'They become magnets for human connection'
Two companies have been busy planting beautiful urban microforests, and the results are astounding. "They become magnets for human connection," Elise Van Middelem, CEO of Sugi, told Euronews. "People take respite during the heat of the day or visit to read a book; at other times the forest becomes a place of dancing, learning, discussion, and leisure. They are self-sustaining within 2-3 years from an ecological standpoint, but at a much deeper level, community members become stewards of the land itself." Van Meddelem went on to explain that proximity to forests has significant mental health benefits. Urban forests also have loads of other benefits. For one, they provide great homes for pollinators and other wildlife. The added shade of trees also combats urban heat islands, which are especially prominent in lower-income areas. Deep root systems help prevent soil erosion and increase the capacity for capturing water during potential flood events. Of course, trees are great at sequestering carbon and increasing local air quality too. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. If you're interested in building your own tiny forest, check out our guide on rewilding your yard. You'll have a local biodiversity hub in no time. Sugi has used the Miyawaki method to plant 230 forests in 52 cities. This technique is a way of planting extra-dense forests in urban environments. It involves restoring soil to near-natural status with multiple layers of amendments and then densely planting native forbs, shrubs, and trees together. This arrangement produces competition that can get trees to full maturity up to 10 times faster than normal. Sugi isn't the only organization leveraging this innovation in forestry. Since 2022, Earthwatch Europe has planted 285 tiny forests in 52 cities. None of that is possible without community engagement, however. "It is necessary to effectively engage stakeholders in the community and get resident buy-in," said Van Middelem. "A pocket forest cannot be planted without their approval. However, none of these challenges are insurmountable." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
