Our rivers are in danger, 'Almost all of the UK's waterways are polluted. In 2022, a House of Commons Committee report...concluded that no river in England was free from chemical contamination. Only 14% of UK rivers had a "good" ecological status.' When Combined Sewerage Overflows (CSOs) and Sewerage Treatment Works (STWs) reach capacity, they discharge untreated sewage into our waterways. In the UK alone, 11 water companies manage 79,324 licensed pipes for sewerage release, while the Environment Agency's (EA) database lists a staggering 143,738 pipes, with 64,414 not underwater companies' jurisdiction. These pipes include agricultural sewage but do not include other potential sources of pollution such as road, industrial and agricultural runoff. Therefore, because the sources of these contaminants are unknown it is integral sensors are deployed at different places in rivers and other water bodies, not only to identify the impact on biodiversity but to stop pollution at the source, to know who to hold accountable and who pays to clean it up. Under a previous Fast Smart Grant Seneye created their Gen2 optical water sensor to monitor the obligatory parameters specified under section 82 of the Environment Act, recording parameters every 15 minutes, taking the first steps to understand river pollution events. This grant allows Seneye to develop a world first; a compact, Internet of Things (IoT), smart water sampler for capturing river pollution events. A remotely triggered sampler used in conjunction with modern ex-situ techniques offers unprecedented resolution and insights into (but not limited to) eDNA, pharmaceuticals, microplastics and water chemistry. Seneye will be pivotal in the protection of our rivers by identifying the sources and impact on the biodiversity, ecology, and ecosystems. It's essential that the samplers are at a low enough cost to allow for mass deployment for the resolution required and to build a long-term picture of trends. Collaborating with the Rivers Trust and the Environment Agency we have identified points of concern and a river of interest to trial the new technique. Twinned with Seneye sensor telemetry of events, this rich data collected by the water sampler provides the smoking gun image of where pollution is truly emanating from and its impact.

'Rivers are the arteries of our blue planet but are treated like open sewers. Only 14% meet good ecological status and 3 in 4 pose a serious risk to human health. Despite this, every fortnight, over 4.3 million people visit the UK's inland blue spaces to improve their mental and physical well-being.' (Surfers Against Sewage website 2022). Over recent years people have become increasingly active in using public waterways for leisure activities such as open water swimming and stand-up paddleboarding to name just a few. The growth of these activities exploded during the COVID pandemic and seems set to continue. Human and animal health has always relied on good quality clean water for drinking and bathing in. History has shown that we are most vulnerable to illness and contagious diseases when we do not manage wastewater properly. Most sewerage networks are combined (where human waste and rainwater are carried in the same pipe.) The pipes have a limited capacity and increasingly can't cope with the volume of waste, especially during heavy rainfall, or increased demand on the sewerage network; to stop the network from backing up and flooding people's homes, CSO's (combined sewage outlets) release raw untreated sewage directly into the river networks. Currently, there is little monitoring of water quality at CSO's because traditional sensor systems are too expensive or unreliable to provide 24/7 monitoring. Some water companies are even unaware of when CSO events happen let alone the effect on water quality and the duration. Very prominent campaigning against the problem of CSO's and increasing awareness in the media of the CSO problem has led to legislation; the New Environment Act 2021 demanding the monitoring of all CSO's and sewage treatment output pipes. Seneye has provided real-time water quality monitoring with alerts used in aquariums and aquaculture for over ten years. Seneye technology uses a proprietary patented system to look at key water parameters, Temperature, PH, and ammonia which are listed by Law as essential items to be monitored. Seneye needs to add two areas of technology that are also required under law these are; oxygen sensing and turbidity measurements. This project would allow Seneye to provide the technology for the mass sensors deployment needed to alert when waterways are safe or dangerous to human health. In addition, it would also provide essential data to form an action plan for improvements.