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Water quality sampling at Skillington and surrounding areas


The Environment Agency has funded a project with the University of Lincoln and Anglian Water in the Cringle Brook catchment. The project involves using passive continuous monitoring at 9 sites along the Cringle Brook and Wyville catchments, where water passes through farmland, alongside roads and Stoke Rochford Golf Course. The project runs from October 2020 - March 2021.

We are testing two types of passive samplers - the first of which are called Diffuse Gradient in Thin Film Device (DGTs) which were supplied by the University of Lancaster. DGTs are being deployed to test for key pesticides, phosphate and heavy metals. The second type of passive sampler - a dosimeter, kindly provided by the University of Tübingen, is testing for PAHs – an indicator of road run off. There are two passive sampler sites at Skillington focused around the contribution to water quality from farmland and the road run off.

Rebecca Carter from Anglian Water will be in the catchment every fortnight to change the samplers. Becky will also  carry out spot sampling of water quality. Spot sampling, taking a sample from the river on a regular basis, often once a month, is how water is currently sampled by the water industry. One of the aims of this project is to compare the water quality results from the passive samplers and the spot sampling methods to see if any future improvements to water quality measurements can be made.

A very important part of the project is to share the results of the passive sampling and spot sampling during the autumn-spring period. For this, COVID allowing, we plan to invite everyone in the catchment to Saltersford Water Treatment Works near Grantham for a socially distanced tour of the water treatment works to find out how your water is treated and a to hear a summary of the results from this project. If you are interested in finding out more about the project or to register your interest in a tour, please contact Rebecca via email below.

Alternatively say hello to Rebecca when she is in the catchment area,  or email her on: rcarter2@anglianwater.co.uk or Jenny Rowbottom (researcher/project manager at University of Lincoln) on jrowbottom@lincoln.ac.uk.


For further information please visit:- https://agrifoodtech.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2020/09/14/striving-for-excellence-in-keeping-your-drinking-water-safe-and-clean/



Fig 1

Fig 2

Figure 1- Map of the Cringle Brook catchment area showing the three sub catchments.

Figure 2 – Image of deployment of passive sampler devices. (if you see one please don’t disturb it but let us know if it appears damaged!).