Great Dunmow has a team of 4-6 volunteers who are monitoring the water quality of the River Chelmer at two locations where it flows through the town. The team was trained and equipped by the Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust, a charity set up in 2014 to improve water quality and biodiversity. Observations are made monthly and consist of state of the river, any signs of pollution, any wildlife or invasive species and activities around the river. Measurements are made and recorded of water temperature, total dissolved solids and turbidity as well as ammonia, phosphate and nitrate concentrations. We are just coming up to the first year of observations and will hopefully be able to display a full years’ worth of data.
We meet on the first Monday of each month in the car park of St Mary’s Church, Great Dunmow. The project is ongoing and is part of a larger Riverwatch project for a large number of our Rivers.
