The Facts

Happy New Year and Happy New Charts! December’s River Mole River Watch water quality monitoring took place in unusually high flow conditions after a storm dropped over 35mm of rain a few days prior to the test weekend. The rain triggered widespread storm overflows across the Thames Water assets in the catchment, resulting in prolonged discharges of untreated sewage which was transported downstream. Data from December tests can potentially show how the river responds to recen

Autumn water quality provides a revealing window into the health of the River Mole.  As the river transitions from summer low-flow conditions toward winter recharge, the catchment’s sensitivity to rainfall, geology and pollution sources becomes especially apparent. At a glance, November headlines show the river in poor condition despite the dilution effects of higher river levels, a considerable decline in storm overflow duration and evidence of effective phosphate treatment

Here’s our October round-up from River Mole River Watch citizen-science testing across the River Mole and a dip into exciting data from the new AquaWatch live "Waka" sensors installed in September. October’s long dry spell finally broke with some substantial rain in the days just before our test weekend. This brought a welcome fall in phosphate, nitrate and ammonia levels after very high concentrations were measured during the dry spell with low flow in September and early Oc