Developed in partnership with Aire Rivers Trust, the Yorkshire Derwent Catchment Partnership, and supported by Yorkshire Water, Rivers to Reef is creating a movement across Yorkshire to protect rivers from their source areas in the hills and moorlands down to the North Sea, with a focus on the Rivers Aire and Derwent.
Every year, litter, microplastics, agricultural run-off, sewage, and chemicals enter Yorkshire’s rivers and eventually reach the Humber Estuary and the North Sea. These pollutants threaten freshwater invertebrates such as mayflies and caddisflies, migratory fish like salmon and sea trout, shellfish including mussels and oysters, and marine mammals such as seals and porpoises. Yet traditional conservation efforts have often treated rivers and seas in isolation, leaving conservation successes, and ultimately marine species, vulnerable to pollution from upstream sources.
Yorkshire’s rivers drain one-fifth of England’s landmass into the Humber Estuary, the largest freshwater contributor to the North Sea and a site of international conservation importance. However, the estuary’s ecological condition has been classified as “unfavourable” for more than a decade, with vital habitats like saltmarsh, seagrass, and shellfish beds in decline. Rivers to Reef addresses this by combining science, policy, and people power to tackle pollution from source to sea.
The initiative will expand citizen science across Yorkshire by introducing standardised water-quality monitoring to track pollutants and identify hotspots, organising bi-annual Water Quality Blitzes in collaboration with Earthwatch to engage communities in coordinated sampling, and supporting community-led litter surveys to measure and reduce river and coastal debris.
Rivers to Reef also empowers individuals to take practical steps at home and in their communities to protect waterways. Simple actions - like cooling, scraping, and binning fats and oils instead of pouring them down the drain, correctly disposing of wet wipes, using wash bags or natural fibres to reduce microfibre pollution, planting buffer strips to limit agricultural run-off, and choosing water-safe flea and tick treatments - can all make a tangible difference. By reducing, reusing, and recycling plastics, taking part in local clean-ups to stop plastics entering rivers, and checking that wastewater from homes and businesses is correctly connected to the wastewater drainage system, everyone can help keep our rivers, estuaries, and coastal reefs clean and healthy. Even small actions inland can safeguard marine ecosystems, highlighting the vital connection between rivers and reefs.
