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The group identified Henley’s iconic river as a focal point for their campaign, recognising its significance as the home of the Royal Regatta. Their initial step was to learn more about the health of the river, gathering baseline knowledge and identifying key concerns, starting to conduct citizen science.

With momentum building, they started to build connections with local rowers, swimmers, and community members. They then brought together these stakeholders, including the local council, to discuss the issue and demonstrate the importance of community-led action at a town hall meeting. At the event, they conducted water quality testing for nitrates, phosphates, and E. coli, demonstrating the shocking data they were finding. These results became a turning point, providing concrete evidence of pollution that could be used to drive change.

Armed with their test results, the group ramped up their campaign in the lead-up to the Regatta. They crafted a compelling narrative, using their, community voices, and connections, to highlight the impact of pollution on Henley’s iconic river. Through media outreach, social media efforts, and direct engagement with event organizers, they gained widespread national media coverage over the outrageous state of the river. Their continued efforts are now leading to collaborating with local officials and decision makers to take potential legal action.

Pictured: Members of H&M River Action Group at the Henley Royal Regatta.

Pictured: E. Coli testing kit that revealed shocking results at the Regatta.

Pictured: Campaigners at the Oxford Clean Rivers Festival

Pictured: An Oxford rowing club in front of an OCRI banner

The Oxford Clean Rivers Initiative was born from a collaboration of local environmental groups and passionate community members. To build a strong foundation, they hosted a public ‘Theory of Change’ session, where they collectively shaped their vision and strategy. This early stage focused on uniting people around a shared mission, ensuring the various groups became aligned.

With a clear purpose in place, the group began planning concrete actions. They undertook different campaigning methods. Their first major steps included organising a local election hustings to bring water quality issues into political discussion and planning the Oxford Clean Rivers festival to raise awareness and mobilise the community. They timed their action with local events to boost engagement, such as the Oxford 8’s rowing races.

As part of the Oxford Clean Rivers Festival, the group connected with local Oxford MPs and councillors to speak at their event. Having forged good connections at a government level, they secured a major victory—local councillors formally adopted a charter for rivers, committing to stronger protections and action on pollution in the local area.

llkley Clean River Group came together to tackle sewage pollution in the River Wharfe. They focused first on growing their members and skill sets, bringing together a mix of skills from science, media, and community organising. With a strong team in place, they instigated the first citizen science river water quality testing, and collected additional data on sewage discharges, people getting sick, and environment contmination and carefully planned their campaign strategy.

Using their findings, they engaged key stakeholders such as local councils, water companies, and regulatory bodies to demand a stop to the pollution. Understanding the power of public pressure, they supported this by crafting a media strategy to make their findings newsworthy, and secured extensive coverage on the state of the Wharfe, becoming a leading voice against river pollution. Their relentless campaigning led to them achieving the first bathing water sites to be granted to a river in England.

With growing public awareness and media attention, they increased pressure on those responsible, holding decision-makers accountable and demanding action, and securing investment for new pipes, storage, and nature based solutions to clean up the river at Ilkely – all of which will be operational by 2026. They are now a respected and significant stakeholder in local and national decision making processes about protecting our rivers from pollution, giving the community a powerful voice in the policy and legal arenas.

Pictured: Members of the Ilkley Clean River Group.

Friends of the River Wye formed from two grassroots community groups – Friends of the Upper Wye and Friends of the Lower Wye – officially joining forces. Working with other groups, they developed a citizen science project in collaboration with Cardiff University, empowering local residents to monitor water quality and identify pollution hotspots. This data collection was designed to fill gaps in the statutory monitoring network, testing in more locations more frequently, and has contributed to the overwhelming evidence showing that the Wye is in crisis, whilst generating an army of river guardians.

The group then used their robust dataset to support advocacy efforts and make an impact. They created a pioneering data platform called WyeViz to showcase all their data, including that of other groups. They formed a coalition of campaigners, scientists, journalists and legal experts to challenge government inaction and weak enforcement through tools like FOI requests. By securing seats on key bodies like the Wye Catchment Nutrient Management Board, they engaged directly with policymakers. Their media campaigns, public meetings, and community mobilisation raised awareness and put pressure on local councils, regulators, and polluters. This intense focus and scrutiny pushed river health higher on the political agenda, making it impossible for authorities and businesses to ignore the Wye’s condition.

Friends of the River Wye secured the first ‘designated bathing area’ for a river in Wales, at the Warren near Hay-on-Wye, meaning that the site is now tested regularly in the bathing season and the Welsh regulator has a duty to improve the water quality if it is found wanting. Another significant change since the group started campaigning is that the largest poultry producer in the catchment introduced stricter rules around what happens to the muck from its farms and is now reportedly exporting the majority of its manure out of the catchment. Friends of the River Wye continues to play a major role in highlighting the damage caused by pollution from intensive farming and advocates at a political level for more enforcement action against polluters and more support for farmers to transition to river-friendly farming. The group co-created a Manifesto for the Wye setting out their people’s plan to restore the river. The governments of England and Wales recently announced a cross-border approach to tackling the pollution on the Wye, which is something the group has long advocated for. The Wye has become an icon in the movement to defend our rivers.