Will the new Environment Act improve river monitoring data - and how will this improve rivers?

The Rivers Trust is an umbrella organisation for 65 member Rivers Trusts, seeking to protect and improve rivers across Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland. In an in-depth interview, Graham Meller discusses the implications of the Environment Act 2021 with Simon Browning from The Rivers Trust, exploring issues such as the role of data in improving rivers, and the integration of data from formal water quality monitoring networks with measurements from citizen science. 

Topics include:

• What does The Rivers Trust do?
• What are the main factors affecting river quality?
• Does The Rivers Trust welcome more monitoring requirements?
• How can data from citizen science be integrated with new monitoring networks?
• How does the Act assess the ecological status of rivers?
• Could the new Environment Act encourage innovation in monitoring technology?
• How will the data generated by the Act be used to enhance the activities of The Rivers Trust?