The RSPAWIR demonstrated the potential to baseline and monitor phosphate and nitrate levels in real-time in some of our most environmentally sensitive rivers in the region.
A new to market sensor developed by Southwest Sensor Ltd that can detect nutrient levels to an extreme degree of granularity was tested to show how wireless devices can replicate and improve on the accuracy of manual testing.
The river Clun in Shropshire is home to the endangered freshwater pearl mussels which are particularly sensitive to phosphates. Phosphate sensors were deployed at strategic locations along the river’s 23km length generating thousands of lab quality tests compared with the single point in time manual tests performed on a monthly basis by the Environment Agency.
These sensors were also deployed on the river Lugg in Herefordshire where the contribution that a Combined Sewer Outlet was making to phosphate levels was also monitored.