Importance of Citizen Science
Launched jointly by the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) and Lancaster University, the Big Windermere Survey has recruited a team of local volunteer citizen scientists to help assess the environmental health of Windermere.
Citizen scientists are trained to collect water samples from approximately 100 different locations on Windermere and in the rivers and lakes that flow into it. The samples are analysed for nutrient and bacterial concentrations at independent laboratories, producing the largest, one-day snapshot of conditions in Windermere.
We asked Emeritus Professor of Environmental Change and FBA Fellow Rick Battarbee to summarise what are the current pressures on freshwater and why citizen science is so important.
"It works on different levels, it works on a community level clearly and that's meant people get interested in their local environment but it also works on a scientific level. One thing it's very difficult to do if you're a lone scientist or a PHD student with a couple of technical helpers, you can't really do a lot of sampling at the same time. You can sample day after day after day, but the problem is then that conditions change, the weather changes and we know that the chemistry, the biology and the bacteriology of running and standing waters changes depending on weather. So if you have an army, if you like, of enthusiastic citizen scientists, they can all sample pretty much the same time. And that's what's going on here today. It's a Sunday morning there are over a hundred sites being sampled in the space of 2 hours and it means that we're sampling in similar weather conditions, similar flow conditions, at the same time. And so the data, comparing data from one site to another, are comparable."
- Rick Battarbee, FBA Fellow
Find out more about the Big Windermere Survey
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Volunteer for the BWS
Interested in becoming a Citizen Scientist? We'd love you to join us at the next Big Windermere Survey!
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BWS Results
Explore the results from our previous surveys and view all data on our interactive Cartographer map.
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About the Big Windermere Survey
The BWS was launched by the FBA and Lancaster University in 2022 to help assess the environmental health of Windermere.
Support the Big Windermere Survey
The Big Windermere Survey is a vital community based project which would not be possible without funding. Please consider donating today.