We're still collecting donations
On the 5th November 2024 we'd raised £59,026 with 302 supporters in 108 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Our vision is to Stop Sewage pollution in the River Dart, making it safe and thriving for all, from source to sea.
On the 5th November 2024 we'd raised £59,026 with 302 supporters in 108 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
- Information Sharing Platform (Free to Use)
Creating an App for sharing the testing results with everyone. Pollution reporting and sickness reporting forum with information about each site.
Goal: Education, engagement, action and activity.
Target Audience Outreach and Engagement: 5 - 8,000 + people
Budget: £10,000
Activity Impact officer- Supporting our communities to engage in healthy activity based around the Dart increasing the heart rate and health of our communities, being nourished by nature and in turn giving something back by caring for the environment. The officer will collate and manage information about safe engagement with the river to ensure that the river ecology, banks etc are not disturbed by human activity, highlighting the need for self responsibility and care when in the river environment. With an ambition to team up with local clubs, swimming, paddling and sailing and be able to support people to access these experiences who may not otherwise be able to do so.
Budget-£15'000
Target Audience Outreach and Engagement: 3 - 5,000 people min. of which 1,500 approx. are new to regular movement and exercise.
- #Deskto10RiverDates - Social Media / Community Engagement Campaign.
We know how important being active and out in nature is to physical and mental wellbeing. So how about a Date with your River? If you aren't already doing so, we want to inspire and even urge you to join in and connect with water (and nature) for your health and wellbeing. Please join us in a Desk to 10 River Dates for just ten Fridays (and hopefully you will do more!). During your date you will get out in nature, move your body and take time out for you away from sitting at your desk. Share your pictures, stories and encounters using the hashtag #Deskto10RiverDates on social media. Inspire your friends and family to join in too! Keep Friends of the Dart in the loop about your progress and when you reach or stretch your target of 10 dates with your local river (or water body however large or small!!). Could some of them even be 'Blind Dates' with a new and as yet undiscovered stretch of water that you have never previously been too?! Happy Dating!
Goals Achieved: Through action, get everyone moving and out in nature.
Target Audience Outreach and Engagement: 3 - 5,000 people min. of which 1,500 approx. are new to regular movement and exercise.
Budget: £2,000
- I Pledge To Save Water - Volunteers @ Home
An initiative for supporters, followers and volunteers to get involved: everyone can join in and perfect for young families. Through social media outreach, getting them to think about water use generally and commit to just 5 ways of saving water and sharing their saves using the hashtag #IPledgeToSaveWater
Goals Achieved: Education on responsible use of water.
Target Audience Outreach and Engagement: 3 - 5,000 people
Budget: £2,000
- River Ambassadors Programme -
Engaging community volunteers and young ambassadors in awareness of a specific stretch of river, each ambassador will commit to regularly walking the stretch of river checking for visual pollution incidents. They will be trained in recognising and reporting these.
Goals Achieved: Engagement, action and activity.
Target Audience Outreach and Engagement: 100 people
Budget: £2,000
- River Fly Survey
River flies are an indicator of the health of a river. Engagement and the set up of a Dart river fly survey, volunteer teams will be trained in identifying river fly and submitting results.
Goals Achieved: Education, action and activity.
Target Audience Outreach and Engagement: 150 people
Budget: £1,000
- Guided River Walks
Regular opportunities to join our water technician and other river lovers and volunteers to walk at the riverside, find out about sampling, what we are testing for and why with guest environmentalists joining us.
Goal: Engagement, education, action and activity.
Target Audience Outreach and Engagement: 500 - 700 people
Budget: £5,500
The key objective of this project is to resolve sewage pollution in the River Dart. In doing so, we aim to inspire and enable many more people to safely enjoy the River and its beautiful surroundings.
Working alongside other stakeholders to shine a light on the issue of River pollution, we want regulatory changes to eradicate sewage spills. We are assured that our water company wants the same. Through constructive collaboration we will help them achieve their goal.
Being connected to the freely available River Dart and its natural environment has huge physical and mental health benefits - this connection will in turn inspire individuals to care and together we can take positive steps towards the resolution of River pollution.
Once we have improvements in the water quality, we will encourage river activities with appropriate careful guidelines around locations, to make sure that people's safety, our River ecology, and landscape are all protected.
In the sections below, we share with you: Who We Are // Our Mission and What We Do // Our Vision // How Will The Natural World, us included, Benefit? // Why Do We Need Your Help? // Join The Movement for Positive Change // Your Generous Gifts Will Fund the Following Costs.
‘Friends of the Dart’ is a grassroots community group, together we are cleaning up the River Dart from source to sea along its 47 miles - that’s the equivalent of 1500 olympic-sized swimming pools end to-end, for us all to safely enjoy!
It all began with a group of swimmers who noticed significant amounts of illness after people had been in the River.
We have rapidly grown to be a strong inclusive and collaborative community of walkers, paddlers, runners, kayakers, sailors, River lovers, anglers, farmers, landowners and you…
We asked the question, "What is in the water?" And set out on a mission to find out just that, as well as what could be done to resolve any pollution issues.
We have achieved a lot in 18 months, all which we couldn't have done without you! We received unprecedented support which led to us being awarded four designated Defra water quality testing sites, as well as completing our own pilot water quality testing programme led by our team of community volunteers, along a number of sections of the Dart. We also hosted a series of inspiring and informative events. These events have brought together expertise from across the water quality sector and connected people to the River by inspiring them to enjoy it, and making it more accessible.
We know there is a problem and we have now shown that we can do something about it. We are making real change happen and with your help we can do more.
Here's a quick video introduction to Friends of the Dart:
We invite you to please Donate (however small) or, claim one of our brilliant Rewards or,
if you're game, come and join us by setting up an easy Fundraiser of your own. You can be sponsored to walk, swim, run, cycle, paddle, sail, skip or anything that challenges you and inspires others, however crazy!!
When we all come together, we know that we can make a difference to the long term health of our beautiful River, as well as our health and wellbeing.
Our survey (thanks to Seymour Research) of 1121 residents conducted in September 2023 showed that the main barriers to use and enjoyment of the River Dart was poor water quality!
(61% cited this) with 68% of respondents having fallen ill themselves or having close friends and family who have become ill after swimming in the river.
92% of people reported contact with the river to have a significant positive impact on their physical and mental health.
Our vision is to clean up the whole of the River and make the Dart safe and thriving, by doing so we are connecting communities from varied backgrounds, all ages and a multitude of experiences. This vision will set a precedent for all rivers in the UK.
One of the joys of the River is being able to swim, paddle, sail, kayak, jog, walk and more, in it or by it, but many local people have stopped doing this, for fear of themselves (or their four-legged furry friends!) becoming ill.
The River is free, and a life-line to so many, available to everyone and anyone: it should be the perfect environment for you to enjoy for your physical and mental health, and wellbeing. This is regardless of your income, background and social status.
By providing accurate information about what is in the water, through our regular testing and the publication of those results, we are supporting you and the general public to have the best healthy active lifestyle possible, whilst rebuilding important connections with the beautiful places along the length and breadth of the Dart.
The health of our communities is inextricably linked to the health of our River and its water quality. We are working towards a happy, healthy wider community who are confident in and inspired by interacting with what nature has to offer and the natural resources available to them.
The River’s ecology, nature, fauna and flora will thrive for the long term.
With a strong and growing mandate, we need your help, to raise vital funds to add a further three test sites to our all year round water quality testing programme. Our testing has begun and we will run out of these initial funds by the end of September. The Environment Agency stops testing the designated sites in September yet people don't stop engaging with the River and the ecology doesn't stop being degraded by sewage pollution.
We use rigorous and high quality testing protocols to indicate sewage levels in the water in places where people swim, paddle, fish and walk. This standard of testing has given us a voice at a national level, where we have been contributing to the discussions on where current Regulations and Policy falls short and where vital changes are needed.
Though other organisations test the waters, ours is the only independent and community-led programme that tests from source to sea at multiple locations all year round and publish 100% of the results (the Environment Agency tests from May to September only at Designated Bathing Water sites [of which the Dart has 4 sites] and only publish 90% of their results).
Locally, we have reached out to our communities and completed a series of educational events and talks. We are looking to offer more of these alongside the expansion of our testing sites.
In all, this creates more safety, adds accountability and transparency to our pivotal conversations driving long term positive action. We are in talks with South West Water about a timeline of effective infrastructure updates to resolve sewage pollution and a legal document setting this out publicly.
Your donations will enable us to open up even more River for you to enjoy, giving everyone clear information about bacterial content. Ultimately, that's the equivalent of opening up 1500 olympic-sized swimming pools end to-end, for us all to safely enjoy!
Friends are here for the good and the bad, and right now the River Dart needs all the friends it has to lend it a hand.
If you are reading this and love the River Dart, you are no doubt a 'Friend of the Dart' too!
Our shared belief is all rivers should be brought back to healthy, thriving water standards - please support us in our vision to make the River Dart safer for everyone.
All budgets and targets are based on one year's activity and impact, covering 2 main areas: Testing and Community Engagement.
1/. TESTING:
- Testing Costs
Water quality testing, laboratory analysis and results and testing equipment.
Budget: £16,000 pa
- Water Technician Role
P/t 3 days a week role for the collection, analysis and reporting results of the water quality.
Budget: £24,000 pa
- Water Quality Monitoring Kit and Reagent
Using this technology alongside our lab tests will give us the flexibility to respond to pollution incidents, taking tests with immediate results. We will train a team of volunteers to be incident responders.
Budget: £3,966 (40 tests)
2/. COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT:
- Information Sharing Platform (Free to Use)
Creating an App for sharing the testing results with everyone. Pollution reporting and sickness reporting forum with information about each site.
Budget: £10,000
- River Ambassadors Programme
Engaging community volunteers and young ambassadors in awareness of a specific stretch of River, each ambassador will commit to regularly walking the stretch of River checking for visual pollution incidents. They will be trained in recognising and reporting these.
Budget: £2,500
- River Fly Survey
River flies are an indicator of the health of a River. Engagement and the set up of a Dart River fly survey, volunteer teams will be trained in identifying River fly and submitting results.
Budget: £1,000
- Guided River Walks
Regular opportunities to join our water technician and other River lovers and volunteers to walk at the Riverside, find out about sampling, what we are testing for and why with guest environmentalists joining us.
Budget: £5,500
- Community Officer Role
Inspiring our multitude of wonderful volunteers to effectively and enjoyably contribute and join us in advocating for the River Dart.
The officer will share information about safe engagement with the River to ensure that the River ecology, banks are not disturbed.
Budget: £15,000
- #Deskto10RiverDates - Social Media / Community Engagement Campaign.
We know how important being active and out in nature is to physical and mental wellbeing. So how about a Date with your River? If you aren't already doing so, we want to inspire and even urge you to join in and connect with water (and nature) for your health and wellbeing. Please join us in a Desk to 10 River Dates for just ten Fridays (and hopefully you will do more!). During your date you will get out in nature, move your body and take time out for you away from sitting at your desk. Share your pictures, stories and encounters using the hashtag #Deskto10RiverDates on social media. Inspire your friends and family to join in too! Keep Friends of the Dart in the loop about your progress and when you reach or stretch your target of 10 dates with your local River (or water body however large or small!!). Could some of them even be 'Blind Dates' with a new and as yet undiscovered stretch of water that you have never previously been too?! Happy Dating!
Budget: £2,000
- I Pledge To Save Water - Volunteers @ Home
An initiative for supporters, followers, and volunteers to get involved: everyone can join in and perfect for young families. Through social media outreach, getting them to think about water use generally and commit to just 5 ways of saving water and sharing their saves using the hashtag #IPledgeToSaveWater
Budget: £2,000
In summary, these vital funds raised will enable us to open up even more of the River for everyone to enjoy, in every way possible, giving clear information about bacterial content from three further sites for a year. These new test results will be made public and used to hold the water company to account so that we progress towards infrastructure upgrades that will eradicate sewage spills.
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