Meet Wigan's wader crusaders helping to improve water quality

It was recently reported that only 14 per cent of UK rivers had a “good” ecological status.

Healthy rivers are vital for biodiversity and for human health and wellbeing.

Rivers provide habitats for a range of wildlife, protect against flooding and provide beautiful places for recreation and reflection.

Samuel Gibson and Sam Phillips work for environmental charity, Groundwork and as guardians of the local rivers, they’re on a mission to ensure that we all play our part in improving the quality of the water.

Their work has led to them becoming known locally as The Super Sams.

Working alongside a range local organisations and volunteers, these two wader crusaders carry out regular sampling to monitor the health of local rivers and teach volunteers how they can do this.

They also organise community action days, clearing rubbish, repairing river banks and removing non-native species that can cause environmental damage, degrade habitats and increase the risk of flooding.

Their aim is to involve as many people and organisations as possible in looking after our rivers.

More recently they’ve been carrying out a series of presentations in local schools which have captured the imagination of young people. The aim of these sessions is to help children to understand and appreciate the importance of rivers, not just for fresh drinking water and for people’s livelihoods, but also for nature. The children also learn about some of wildlife that rely on rivers for their habitat and how rivers can benefit people’s health and wellbeing.

Samuel Gibson said: “Having healthy rivers isn’t just important for wildlife, but for human health and wellbeing too. We’re really enjoying going out to schools and local communities and showing people how we can all make a real difference to our local environment.

Sam Phillips says: “Our aims is to make volunteering an enjoyable experience, spending time in nature, meeting new people and knowing you’re having a positive impact in your community. We’ve had a great response so far but we’d love it if even more people got in touch and got involved.”

If you’d like to get involved in improving local rivers to help people and wildlife, call the Love My River team on 01972 821444 or email [email protected].