A slightly rainy evening after a weekend of torrential rain and floods meant our gardening job was postponed until things were less muddy, but continuing the watery theme our backup task was ideally suited.

Earthwatch, the people behind TinyForests, also do a big national water quality survey to assess the health of our rivers and waterways. Our task this night was to walk and run out to four different spots on the River Lea to collect water samples to test for nitrate and phosphate levels, two indicators that things are getting into the river that shouldn't be, like fertilisers from farms and sewage from towns.

We spend many of our sessions running by the river, working next to the river, and sometimes even in the river, so it's good to know what lies beneath the ripples! We collected water from the new Hat Garden section on Bute street, Wardown lake, Runfold Avenue and all the way to Leagrave Park for a photo with Bob Marley and a total run distance of 12km, our longest in quite a while. Fishing for water with a test tube on a string along the way was quite fun!

I got the water samples home and conducted the tests, and I am pleased to report that the levels detected were classed as 'moderate', so not too bad. The levels were quite consistent throughout the length we tested so its good to know that it doesn't get any worse as it passes through town.