The Upper Mersey Catchment Partnership (UMCP) set up the Tame Working Group as a subgroup to focus on developing and monitoring the River Tame.
Mersey Rivers Trust (MRT) has chosen the River Tame as a location for establishing a long-term citizen science monitoring programme using River Guardians and a target river for urban river restoration.
The River Guardians have been working with United Utilities staff in the newly-created River Ranger posts to trial a new way of collaborating with the local water company on environmental issues.
The urban river restoration includes installing large woody debris, tree planting, planting macrophytes, and INNS clearance along the River Tame.
The Context
The River Tame flows through three local authority areas, has many stakeholders, and has a history of industrial use and a heavily urbanised river catchment. As such, a long-term river restoration programme requires various habitat improvement approaches, all of which must be supported by data. Here, citizen science data supplements the Environment Agency (EA) and United Utilities data to create a whole river overview.
Who
- Local Authorities: Stockport, Tameside and Oldham
- Environmental Groups: Mersey Rivers Trust (MRT), Groundwork, City of Trees
- River Guardians
- Local Groups: Friends of the Tame Valley, River Tame Anglers, Stockport Greenspace Volunteers
Where
The River Tame flows through Greater Manchester, rises on Denshaw Moor and flows to Stockport, where it joins the River Goyt to form the River Mersey.
Methods
RMI Riverfly. The data collected by the River Guardians and local groups is stored on Cartographer and hosted by the FBA Riverfly Partnership. Others can use this data to deliver engagement events on the riverside, teaching the public about water invertebrates and the health of our rivers.
Water Quality. Water Quality is tested using La Motte test strips, which provide baseline data on phosphate, ammonia and nitrate levels. Our goal is to create a live data visualisation for River Guardians, showing the year-round trends in the levels of these chemicals to identify pollution sources and support plans for nutrient removal.
INNS mapper. Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) mapper is used by River Guardians and the Friends of Tame Valley to map Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed. Combined with a catchment-wide INNS survey, this gives us accurate and up-to-date information on the presence of these INNS.
Angling catch reports. MRT receive regular catch reports from the Secretary of the River Tame Anglers, which includes evidence of fish species presence and breeding.
Angling competition. MRT and the River Tame Anglers partnered to design and run an angling competition to gather information on species’ presence/ absence in different river reaches over several months. The competition had very low participation. Feedback was that the rules were too complicated, and anglers were reluctant to share the location of their preferred fishing sites.
3000 Chubb & Dace
The first agreed fish re-stock of the River Tame in 10 years was continuous on our habitat improvement works.
1.6 km
The habitat improvement includes installing large woody debris attached to the bank, planting trees to prevent flood risk and planting macrophytes.
2000 Chubb & Dace
The second agreed restock of the River Tame that happened once the habitat improvement work had been completed.
Understanding the Mersey
The Mersey Basin includes the cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Salford which, in total, cover an area of over 125 square miles.
Issues for watercourses in urban areas include pollution, litter, sediment and flood risk. The top five urban diffuse pollution issues are:
- Contaminated land alongside rivers
- Urban run-off, including from highways
- Misconnections from residential properties
- Industrial and trading estate run-off
- Contaminated sediment in rivers
Two of the ten most populous cities in the UK fall within the Mersey Basin – Liverpool and Manchester.
According to the 2021 census, the City of Liverpool had a population of more than 486,000, while the City of Manchester had 552,000.
Water quality in the River Tame
River Guardian data shows that water quality in the Tame is generally within acceptable parameters. Still, a pattern of occasional spikes in pollutants indicates an issue with point-source industrial pollution that needs to be addressed.
Benefits
The CaSTCo initiative places a strong emphasis on community engagement, aiming to bring together and mobilize a diverse range of stakeholders. Specifically, it seeks to actively involve River Guardians, dedicated volunteers who watch over the waterway, along with various local Friends groups who champion its conservation. Furthermore, the engagement strategy targets anglers, recognizing their vested interest and deep knowledge of the river’s health, and extends outreach to the wider community to build broad support and participation in the project’s goals.
Additionally, the collected data supports lasting impacts and actions including fish restocking, tackling industrial pollution.
Fish re-stocking
The accompanying videos show the successful winter 2025 stocking of Chubb and Dace into the River Tame near Hyde, a critical step for river health.
Volunteers released the fish at two sites. This winter timing is essential: low water temperatures reduce the physiological stress of the relocation, promoting high survival rates. A February release is ideal, providing the fish with sufficient time to acclimatize to their new surroundings before their spring spawning season. Ultimately, this restocking initiative plays a vital role in sustaining the river’s finely-balanced ecosystem, benefiting the entire natural environment.
“Both invertebrate and water quality testing have allowed us to gain a better understanding of what is going on in our river and has proved beneficial to us. These tests and sampling have also allowed us to teach the younger generation about riverine life.”
– Chris, River Guardian, Chair of River Tame Anglers
“The CaSTCO approach allows citizen science data to feed into the River Tame Working group, influencing the co-design, co-delivery, and benefits of realising collaborative partnership action plans that directly improve river health.”
– Mark Sewell, Wastewater Catchment Manager, United Utilities