First target reached! Stretch target: £17,500
HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated so far: we are bowled over by your suppor...
Helping restore New Forest rivers
Lymington, England, United Kingdom
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Your donation unlocks match funding
Aim
To help rivers be resilient to climate change, monitor and reduce pollution, keeping them healthy & able to cope with climate-driven extreme
Who are we, and what is our project about?
New Forest Water Watch is a community-led initiative bringing together volunteers across 25 local groups to monitor how climate change is affecting the health of rivers and streams throughout the New Forest. With no other organisation regularly testing most of these sites, our volunteers provide essential local evidence of climate-related pressures and related pollution.
Climate change is increasing extreme rainfall, flooding and drought. Rivers must be clean and functioning well to absorb, store and slow excess water. By tracking environmental stress, pollution & invertebrate life, our volunteers generate the evidence needed to protect rivers and strengthen local climate resilience.
The project began after Lymington’s ‘Dirty Business’ E. coli pollution event, which galvanised local concern and led us to establish a community monitoring network. We aim to observe, monitor, record and bring about action quickly.
Why are we crowdfunding?
There is enormous local concern about how climate change is affecting our rivers, with heavier rainfall, flooding and drought placing increasing pressure on these fragile systems. We already have a strong network of trained volunteers, with more people offering to help, but we now need the resources to equip them properly.
This funding will enable us to provide reliable testing equipment so volunteers can carry out consistent monthly monitoring. By generating accurate, trusted data, we ensure that local agencies can respond quickly to emerging problems and climate-related stress.
Healthy rivers are essential for climate resilience. When functioning well, they support wildlife, store carbon, cool surrounding areas and act as natural buffers against extreme weather through flood management and water retention. By helping our rivers recover, we are strengthening nature’s ability to respond to climate change, and giving our towns and villages the best preventative measures.
How we’ll spend the money raised
We will spend it on equipment for the water testing and invertebrate identification.
Some of the testing equipment is consumable, while other parts are more expensive.
£3 buys us a one-use nitrate or phosphate testing kit
£12 buys us one-use E. Coli test kit
£35 buys us a plug-in incubator (to complete the test)
£80 buys us - 4x river water thermometers or
- a full set of trays and ID charts for freshwater invertebrate identification
£125 buys us a reusable amonia testing piece of equipment
£250 will let us test one location, 12 x over a whole year
£2500 will buy a Fluidion ALERT, handheld lab quality digital E Coli tester.
How you can help
There are two simple ways to get involved and support our project:
1. Make a donation
Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Early support can help build momentum and inspire others to give too.
2. Spread the word
Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed. Share the link or the QR code.
Thank you for all your help on this.
Our one aim is to restore our rivers to the be the cleanest they can be, where nature is able to thrive, and help us prevent and prepare for more extreme weather conditions.
Communities Fund Employee Giving has provided £6,880 of match funding
Communities Fund has provided £3,361 of match funding
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 25th June 2026 at 7:01pm