Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (7)

When? 

Thursday 17th September,  10am - 3:30 pm

The event may finish earlier than 3:30pm depending on the factors on the day.

Where?

Ribble Rivers Trust offices, c/o Heidelberg Materials, Ribblesdale Works, West Bradford Rd, Clitheroe, BB7 4QF.

Meeting Point: Outside Ribble Rivers Trust Offices, next to pond (may be dry), close to blue metal gate and turning style. What3Words: ///sharpened.levels.expand

The site can be tricky to navigate, so please take care to follow the directions (you'll receive full directions when you book) and have a good look at a map before you set off.

Why?

Edisford Bridge Bathing Water, is currently failing to meet the water quality standards required to be classed as fit to swim in.

Last year, citizens scientists identified numerous locations upstream of the bathing water where results exceeded recommended standards. The information was shared with the Environment Agency, which they used to focus their interventions and resources. 

This year, we look to confirm previous issue sites as well as investigate new areas which could be impacting the bathing water.

 This in turn will help to direct the efforts of our Team to ensure we direct our efforts where they could make the greatest impact not only for the Bathing Water, but for the health of the Ribble catchment as a whole.

What will the day involve?

• Introduction and training on how to collect water samples and chemistry readings in the field (no prior experience is necessary!). 
• Split up into small groups and head to pre-determined river sites.
• Water chemistry analyses on the samples once back in the classroom - testing for phosphate, ammonia concentrations, and  E.coli (although these take 24 hours to incubate). 
• RRT staff will demonstrate all testing procedures and will be on hand to help answer any questions.

Other important info:

• Please bring your own packed lunch.
• Most of the survey sites will require a short drive to get to them. Please indicate whether you will have a vehicle on the day that you would be happy to use for car-pool/travel to the survey site. If you do not have a vehicle, we will make sure to partner you up with someone who does.
• Please bring clean wellies (at least one person in each group will need to go into the river) and be prepared for all weathers.
• Please download (if possible) the app 'what3words' before the event. We use it to provide you the locations for our sample sites.

Can't make this date?

To collect data throughout the Bathing Water Season (May-September), we will be running sampling events every 2 weeks on Thursday, so there's plenty of options to get involved!

1) 25th June 2026 - Book your place – Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (1) – Ribble Rivers Trust offices

2) 9th July 2026 - Book your place – Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (2) – Ribble Rivers Trust offices

3) 23rd July 2026 - Book your place – Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (3) – Ribble Rivers Trust offices

4) 6th August 2026 - Book your place – Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (4) – Ribble Rivers Trust offices

5) 20th August 2026 - Book your place – Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (5) – Ribble Rivers Trust offices

6) 3rd September 2026 - Book your place – Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (6) – Ribble Rivers Trust offices

7) 17th September 2026 - Book your place – Edisford Bridge Bathing Water Monitoring (7) – Ribble Rivers Trust offices