Water Rangers: Community Lab at ZERO Guildford
A novel approach to community-led bacterial monitoring in Guildford
Summary
In Guildford, the Water Rangers Community Lab at ZERO Guildford has built a method and space for anyone to take E. coli samples following the ISO-certified IDEXX Colilert method. The University of Surrey has lent the project equipment, ZERO Climate Action Centre has provided the space, South East Rivers Trust has provided its expertise, the River Wey Trust has added its local knowledge, and Water Rangers has built the infrastructure to allow this program to be managed by volunteers. It also introduces some key ideas around accessing data at the right time and place, as well as some key project sustainability ideas.
The context
Water Rangers, River Wey Trust, and ZERO Guildford have been testing for baseline water chemistry for a few years. Many of our volunteers who care about the local river’s health also enjoy swimming and boating: they had questions about water health related to their own health.
While the region continues to collect baseline chemistry data, this bacterial data is providing insights and providing more nuances to our understanding of the River Wey Catchment’s health. We use this data in the Wey Landscape Partnership to work collaboratively to improve water quality and share information with the public at the testing locations.
Who
- Led by Water Rangers, ZERO Guildford, and the River Wey Trust
- Expertise and resources from the University of Surrey and South East Rivers Trust
- Funded by local councillors and businesses
- Part of monitoring and restoration planning in the Wey Landscape Partnership, the local catchment partnership. Catchment partner, Affinity Water, also helped us with some validation sampling.
Where
Based in Guildford, Surrey to serve the River Wey and surrounding catchments
The lab is officially open every week to process samples, with results published Saturday morning, with special event testing possible during the week.
Signs at popular locations, sponsored by local businesses, allow people to view results right next to the river, as soon as they’re published.
The systems and protocols have many fail-safes built in to allow us to follow rigorous methods but also to include new volunteers every week. Plus we love welcoming experts to help us improve!
It’s a resource available to everyone! The lab has processed samples as part of blitz events in the Ribble, the Severn, and the Mole. Plus, we’ve had inquiries from other places to replicate our model
Methods
We are using the ISO-certified IDEXX Colilert 2000 MPN method for testing E. coli. This test type has been used for many years, and as it’s a recognised method, it increases the trustworthiness of our results.
The University of Surrey lent us the equipment for sealing samples and incubating tests, and we process samples in a dedicated space in ZERO Guildford, a climate action centre. We continuously welcome experts to review our protocol.
Undiluted samples have a “most probable number” (MPN) reading up to 2,420CFU/100mL. For samples consistently above 2400CFU/100mL, we dilute the sample with 50% mineral water to be able to read up to 4840CFU/100mL. For high probability polluted samples, we also dilute up to 90%.
We are collaborating with the Severn Demo on testing methods and experimenting with remote sampling using another method, where participants can incubate themselves.
100%
Funded by local councillors, businesses, and donations
90%
Samples where results were higher than the recommended levels for swimming, but also at surprising spots. It’s prompting further investigations
Inspiring interdisciplinary engagement
We welcome many students into the lab as part of monitoring. For example, Will Dickson is completing his master’s of photography, finding beauty in (sometimes not so good) water quality.
You can view his mini-exhibition, which combines the places people are visiting with the test results at ZERO Guildford and Kiln Photo in Badshot Lea.
Data systems
Our super-star trustees have prototyped and built data systems to checkout sample collection bags, smooth out data entry during our rigorous protocol and post results. We publish results in three places: on the Water Rangers results page, the River Wey Trust hub results, as well as on the open data platform at Water Rangers. This prototyping work is informing the next iteration of the data platform, some features that are being co-developed with the Thames21 team.
Innovative approach
While many communities are testing for E.coli, they rely on a lab to get their results. This lab is the first of its time to empower communities to collect and process results using a rigorous ISO-certified method. It is based in a Climate Action Centre, ZERO Guildford, allowing them to benefit from space and community support. Plus, its model is aimed at sustainable testing, with local businesses sponsoring testing locations.
“There is a lot of local support to protect and monitor our local rivers. It’s really great that we now have the Community Water Lab within our premises at ZERO Guildford so that team of volunteers can do that really important work in testing and share results.”
– Steph Bleach, ZERO Guildford
“By using this lab and allowing the people to keep track of bacterial pollution in the river is a huge leap in the right direction, and it should be something that we should all be proud of.”
– Dr. Lewis Campbell, South East Rivers Trust