river health, sewage spills, excessive agrichemicals, flea and tick treatments, septic tank maintenance, microplastics, forever chemicals
The Western Sussex Rivers Trust (WSRT) has recently been sharing some analysis of the 2026 data from the River Guardians Water Testing programme which we thought would interest our members so here is an outline of some of those findings.
Given that the River Rother and its tributaries are a focus for much of our practical work, be that with Himalayan Balsam pulling or our E.coli testing of river water, it is inevitable that we regularly get asked if it is safe to swim in the Rother. We feel strongly that it is not our place to make that decision for you, but we can certainly help you by giving you all the information we have amassed.
In order to improve something, it is necessary to be able to measure it. A recent report from the UN proposes 31 measures of factors relating to human well-being, which would be published by all countries regularly allowing a more comprehensive comparison between countries and a better assessment of their progress.
