Big River Watch

Visit your local river and tell us what you see – from wildlife to pollution.

Our rivers face threats from plastic, sewage, nutrient and chemical pollution, which harm wildlife and us. The Big River Watch app is simple citizen science survey that anyone can take part in across the UK and Ireland, that aims to help support river restoration.

All you need to do is spend a little time watching your local river and answering the questions in the app. From wildlife and water colour to plastics and pollution, Big River Watch app allows you to record your valuable observations and to upload a photograph of your local river. The app also contains handy wildlife and pollution ID guides.

All of the surveys submitted will form a large data set that helps us understand what, and where, some of the problems in our rivers lie. This widespread and up-to-date information is key to support measures taken to improve our rivers. You can complete the survey at any time throughout the year, and you can do more than one survey. Surveys can be completed whilst out and then submitted at a later time if there is not sufficient mobile signal at your survey location. You should not enter the river or put yourself in a dangerous position to complete this survey.

The Big River Watch is coordinated by The Rivers Trust and supported by partners and funding from: CIWEM and The Rivers Trust Foundation, for Water Research (FWR) legacy fund and Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative (CaSTCo) project from the Ofwat Innovation fund.