Riverfly

Riverfly is a national citizen science method that was laucnhed by the Riverfly Partnership in 2007, aiming to monitor the presence and abundance of target groups of freshwater riverflies to determine river health.

This is an Environment Agency-approved citizen science method, therefore after a site has been monitored for 6-12 months, the EA will set a trigger breach score that will differ for every monitoring site. Should your monthly score drop below the trigger breach, the EA should come out to investigate any potential pollution events as a result of Riverfly monitoring.

To become a Riverfly monitor, you will need to take part in a one-day training session to receive your certification and monitoring equipment, these are generally held twice a year in the Chilterns hub, once in spring and another in autumn.

Each river has a co-ordinator that is the primary point of contact for monitoring. They can organise for potential new monitors to shadow an existing Riverfly monitoring pair, or may be able to organise a public taster session if there is enough demand.