Water quality measurements are carried out nationwide by the Environment Agency on a regular basis. Samples are taken from numerous sampling points around the country and then analysed by laboratories to measure aspects of the water quality in the environment at the sampling point. One such sampling point on the river Cober is at Lowertown Bridge. The information here uses the Environment Agency water quality data from the publicly available Water Quality Archive.
We thought it would be interesting to monitor these data to assess the health of our river. In particular we are interested in the concentrations of nitrate and phosphate as these pollutants can have an adverse effect on plant and fish life. Standards show that nitrate levels of less than 30mg/l are considered acceptable (drinking water standard is 50 mg/l) while phosphate levels below 0.1 mg/l are good. We are also monitoring concentrations of suspended solids as these can be closely associated with water run-off from land.
The charts below show results for each of the 3 years since we began monitoring water quality in 2023. These data show nitrate and phosphate levels were well within the required standards each year. This shows we continue to have a healthy river from an environmental viewpoint. Interestingly nitrate levels seem to dip while phosphate levels increase marginally when there is a sharp increase in suspended solids. This seems to suggest the primary source of phosphate is water run-off from agricultural land.
Those wishing to explore the Environment Agency Water Quality Archive from which our data are extracted should click on the link below.
https://environment.data.gov.uk/water-quality/sampling-point/SW-82010156