14. Riverfly monitoring

Aims: Involve people with their local waterbodies; Improve water quality

Water body: River Chess

Project description

A Riverfly monitoring group was set up by the River Chess Association in 2010.

The River Chess Association has a team of trained volunteers who carry out monthly monitoring of the fly life on the Chess, as part of the national Riverfly Partnership's Angler's Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (ARMI). Monitoring has been running since 2010 and was started to provide a regular assessment of the health of the river, which is under pressure from a variety of sources.

Riverflies are monitored because they are sensitive indicators of water quality and their populations will decline in response to pollution events. Thanks to funding by the Chilterns Chalk Streams Project, a number of our local volunteers attended a one-day workshop run by the Riverfly Partnership, to train them in assessing the health of the river through the detection of different groups of these invertebrates. To find out more visit the River Chess Association's website. To find out how you can become trained as a riverfly monitor follow this link.

Project lead: River Chess Association

Project partners: Chiltern Chalk Streams Project, Riverfly Partnership

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Funding source: