Parrett and Yeo Phosphate Pollution Study
A citizen science investigation
Cartgate pond, Martock, May 2020. Consistently free of excessive phosphate despite being fed by a phosphate-rich stream.
Home Measuring phosphate pollution in the Somerset Levels catchment This is a report of an ongoing Citizen Science Project looking at phosphate levels in tributaries of the River Parrett in and around Martock Parish. It started early 2021. The study was established when all new house building was put on hold in the Parrett catchment following a High Court (European) ruling that a number of Internationally important (Ramsar) wetland sites were not being managed in a manner that was lawful and were in a declining ecological state. The Catchment Area of the Somerset Moors and Levels was one of these areas and the offending pollutant was excessive phosphate nutrient. At the end of 2020 Natural England initiated a ban of all development in the Somerset Levels catchment area that was not accompanied by a statement (see 'background documents' to the right) showing that it would not generate a net increase in phosphate in the catchment. This was a climax in a decades long story of declining biodiversity in the area that we were all aware of. Rather astonishingly, though, nobody had undertaken any systematic survey in the area to obtain precise field data. It was to fill this gap that the Project was started and this website maps the results and highlights the patterns uncovered. The website focuses on the phosphate in the upper catchment of the river Parrett, most partcularly in Martock and neigbouring parishes. It extends from South Perrott ustream as far as two Moors, Wetmoor and West Sedgemoor downstream and includes the lower reaches of the Yeo. |
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Links Study Reports Background documents Local Authority pblications Natural England reports, letters and press releases Environment Agency reports, letters and press releases DEFRA guidlines on farming near watercourses. Parish phosphate data from the Environment Agency Environment Agency data - all rivers [Note that the Environment Agency sampling is expressed as 'total phosphate as P', the convention now used; I have converted this in the data to the older convention of orthophosphate used elsewhere in this document, to facilitate comparisons. The conversion multiplier is 3.06. See experimental pages for more details] The Ramsar Convention About Hills to Levels
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Navigating these pages Existing phosphate monitoring in the upper Parrett catchment area The 2021 Study Areas The 2022/23 Study Areas
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Last modified 19/4/23 |