UK Freshwater Quality Programme Webinar - LTLS-FE Project

Dr Victoria Bell and Dr Stephen Lofts (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) will present an update on the Long-Term Large Scale-Freshwater Ecosystems (LTLS-FE) project, which is one of the 6 projects of the UK-wide NERC Freshwater Quality Programme.

The project is undertaking analysis and future scenarios of long-term and large-scale freshwater quality and impacts.

Historically, rivers across the United Kingdom have been subjected to a range of pressures arising from the input of chemicals and by-products, such as domestic wastewater, acid rain, nutrients and pesticides applied to soils, and other products such as medicines. The £1.6 million LTLS-FE project is developing a model to make predictions about future chemical inputs, river quality and river biodiversity. Future scenarios will be based on a range of possible changes in society and climate.

By doing this, they aim to provide a range of UK-wide ‘projections’  river quality and biodiversity in the future which will help policy-makers and scientists to understand the main factors controlling the quality and health of rivers. This will help them to develop plans for adaptation, mitigation and detection of risks associated with future changes in river quality.

This will be the first project to quantify the future impact of climate and  socioeconomic change on freshwater biodiversity across the UK.

The project team (photographed above) includes partners: Rothamsted Research, British Geological Survey and Cardiff University.

This webinar is one of a series on a range of related topics organised by the Champions team for the NERC Freshwater Quality programme. The webinars are designed to help promote communications and interactions between researchers, the policy community, business and practitioners who can all shape future UK freshwater quality.

Each webinar includes a 30 minute presentation with time for questions afterwards. The presentations are recorded  -  watch the up-to-date playlist here.

To receive joining details for this event, please register for the mailing list of the UK Freshwater Quality Programme or email [email protected].