UPDATED ON 30th MAY, 2026
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Many of you will have seen the Channel 4 documentary "Dirty Business". It revealed that many water companies are regularly and illegally dumping huge volumes of untreated sewage into our waterways and sea. GreenSnape member Brian Roger is a voluntary water-tester locally on the Alde, and would like to know if any others would like to join him and others in this valuable service. Please contact Brian direct if you are interested.
e: Briangroger@hotmail.com | t: 01728 688 402 | m: 07941 953 557
ORIGINAL APPEAL POSTED ON 18th NOVEMBER, 2025
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An interesting volunteering opportunity, testing the water quality in our local rivers ...
In 2022, a small group of local sailors and wild swimmers set up a water-testing programme on the Rivers Alde, Butley and Ore and a small part of the Fromus. This was done because we were concerned that these rivers could be as polluted as the River Deben.
We have fortunately found that, in general, this is not the case. We have used our data, collected weekly from 15 different places, to lobby Anglian Water to put in place various improvements. These have been partially successful.
We feel that the process should continue and are setting up a small testing-station in a building at The Maltings in Snape, because the principal water-tester, who has been running the process on his own from his house for over two years, would like to step back from the role.
We are building a team of 5/8 people who will take it in turns to spend a couple of hours every 4/6 weeks managing the tests. We wonder if you would like to join us? The tests are not complicated, and training and supervision will be arranged for each volunteer until they are confident with the various processes. You can see the results of the programme on the Alde & Ore Association website:
https://www.aldeandore.org/index.php/water-monitoring-2025/
Many thanks and best wishes,
Alde & Ore Association
