On 5 December, BedsGOVET (Bedfordshire Great Ouse Valley Environmental Trust) addressed around 50 Bedford Borough School Headmasters and Deputy Headmasters to discuss the work that the charity does in testing the quality of water in the River Great Ouse.
As part of the event, they also illustrated the areas where schools could work with the Trust in developing educational activities that create awareness of the plight of this highly polluted river.
Alan Horn, Chair of BedsGOVET demonstrated the breadth of testing that the team of Citizen Scientists regularly carry out on the river and was able to illustrate the talk with a chemical analysis on river water that had been taken less than an hour earlier.
The results showed that nitrate levels were between 5-10 mg/L which is dangerously high and unless controlled will lead to “eutrophication” of the river – (slow death due to depletion of oxygen)
The offer of the opportunity to work with schools on programmes related to causes and solutions to contamination is a key part of BedsGOVET’s strategy and discussions are now taking place with a number of school heads.
One of BedsGOVET’s Citizen Scientists, Alison Symonds is heading up this initiative and can be contacted by email – alison.symonds@bedsgovet.org
Word supplied by BedsGOVET
The Bedford Independent is proud to support BedsGOVET in their vital work to monitor water quality in the River Great Ouse and provide them with space for a column as part of their Don’t Lose the Ouse campaign.
