Community
We don’t just work on restoring rivers and improving habitats in isolation, we work in collaboration with individuals, organisations and communities. We want to make lasting positive change to our waterways to improve them for wildlife, people and communities. Whether we’re taking children river dipping on their local river, running forest schools, undertaking practical conservation work with volunteers, the changes we’re striving to make will benefit everyone.
Supporting communities at risk of flooding
As our climate continues to change, flooding events are forecast to increase in frequency and severity. In the past hard engineering solutions were seen as the solution, but it’s becoming clearer that this alone is not an adequate route to tackle our nature or climate crises. Lots of the work we do involves Natural Flood Management (NFM) solutions which have benefits for both nature and communities. By keeping more water in the landscape longer and slowing the flow, we can help reduce the impact of these events on our communities whilst at the same time providing better habitats for wildlife and benefitting farm businesses too.
Making our rivers fit for people and wildlife
Our rivers are in not in good shape and there has only very recently been designated bathing waters in the UK for them. Our umbrella organisation, The Rivers Trust, has been fighting to make our rivers fit to play in. Get involved in the fight to clean up our rivers.
Raw sewage in our rivers | The Rivers Trust
Find out where sewage is discharged into rivers and make informed decisions about where you swim, paddle, catch and play. The Sewage Map shows where the network discharges and overflows are. Be warned you might not like what you find!
Find out if there is sewage in your local river with The River Trust’s Sewage Map.
Report pollution incidents
If you spot something that doesn’t look right in our rivers, or any illegal activity, please report it immediately to the environment authorities. These hotlines are open 24 hours every day.
England, Scotland and Northern Ireland: 0800 80 70 60
Enjoying our rivers
There are so many ways to enjoy our rivers from wild swimming to paddle sports, family activities to riverside walks. You can even see what your local river looks like right now with our handy web cam page.
We hope to unveil some riverside trails across our patch in the near future, until then, take a look at the Rivers Trust resources and enjoy your blue spaces safely.
Events
We have lots of events happening across our patch, take a look and see if there’s something you’d like to come along to in your community.
Volunteer
Get involved in the fight to bring back our rivers to their former glory, you’ll be putting something back into your community and giving nature a helping hand.
Donate
Support our cause by donating to our charity. You can make a difference with a donation small or large.
Trails
Webcams
Citizen Scientists
Become a volunteer
Make new friends, get plenty of exercise in the glorious outdoors and achieve some great results for nature – what’s not to love about volunteering for WCRT!?