Category
Instrumented sites
Capabilities
The River Thames Initiative uses 23 sampling sites, distributed across the main river and its tributaries, to measure a suite of water quality properties including: chemical water quality, algal phytoplankton and nutrient concentrations at weekly interval, plus periodic surveys for organic pollutants (pharmaceuticals, pesticides). It also includes hourly water quality and nutrient analyses at the Taplow automatic monitoring station. Additional measurement capabilities are available for natural flood management trials including water flow, sediment pollution and more.
Lifecycle
UKCEH monitoring of the Thames first started in 1997 and measurement frequency was stepped up to weekly in 2009. In addition to ongoing monitoring, The River Thames Initiative currently hosts time-limited studies and trials including: (1) LANDWISE project (2017-2022) to evaluate the effectiveness of natural flood management (NFM) measures in reducing the risk of flooding in the Upper Thames groundwater-fed lowland catchment. NFM practices being studied in this catchment include crop choice, tillage practices and tree planting. The LANDWISE partnership is led by University of Reading and UKCEH's role is to better understand the hydrological functioning of soils under these land management and land use practices. (2) The Littlestock Brook NFM Trial (2016-2022) in the Evenlode-Thames river catchment is to evaluate the effectiveness and benefits of NFM interventions in reducing flood flows and pollution risks (from nutrients and sediments) to a local village. UKCEH's role is to better understand the hydrological functioning of soils under NFM practices. (3) Studies by the Environment Agency and Thames Water to investigate the impacts of their planned flood relief and water transfer projects.
Uniqueness
Very few catchment-scale river research platforms across the world provide such high frequency measurements as the River Thames Initiative. Hourly automatic monitoring of a range of nutrients and water quality parameters is extremely rare and vital for nutrient dynamics research. Weekly characterisation of the algal community by flow cytometry is completely unique, allowing UKCEH to lead the field in the understanding of the causes of algal blooms.
Partners
UKCEH's primary partner in the River Thames Initiative is Defra-Environment Agency. The data is regularly used by university researchers and PhD students in the UK and internationally, and to support major infrastructure projects in the Thames basin. The Thames Initiative is also a proposed Supersite for the EU DANUBIUS Research Infrastructure Consortium, and is being replicated in 12 river catchments across Europe.
Access
River Thames Initiative data are freely available via the UKCEH Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC) and more recent data can be supplied on request to Mike Bowes at UKCEH Wallingford. Collaboration for research and innovation is actively encouraged: researchers and SME instrument manufacturers co-locate their monitoring and experiments at UKCEH sites, particularly the Taplow monitoring station. European collaboration will be enabled through the EU-DANUBIUS Research Infrastructure Consortium.
Location
For a map of the 23 sampling sites used by The River Thames Initiative, see online
Funding sources
The River Thames Initiative is currently funded through UKRI-NERC National Capability LTSS (UK-SCaPE and ASSIST programmes) plus research project grants. Additional funding to support the Taplow monitoring station has been provided by the Environment Agency and Binnies.
Users
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Users of the River Thames Initiative include the UK research community (universities and institutes); Environment Agency; Thames Water; Environmental Consultancies; Instrument manufacturers; and local stakeholder partnerships in natural flood management trials.
Scale
Landscape or catchment
Last updated
28 April 2022 13:21
