Total River Therapy

During 2023 and 2024, we engaged with community groups on the River Don, offering opportunities to connect with their local river. This project was funded by the Shared Prosperity Fund and Garfield Weston Foundation.

We have created an interactive Story Map which gives lots of information about the work that we carried out to complete the project, how we evaluated it and the outcomes.

Click the image to visit our interactive Story Map

Click on the image to take you to our Story Map.

You can also find more information below

Activities included:

• Guided walks to observe the river and its wildlife
• Demonstrations of monitoring techniques
• Volunteer tasks such as litter picks and habitat management
• Citizen science training opportunities in river health
• Climate resilience workshops – water butts, rain gardens and permeable paving
• Installing planter rain gardens

To find out more about the project, please contact Maddy on m.fowler@tyneriverstrust.org.

Reducing pollution from farming in the River Don

Moving the location of a muck bay is a simple way to improve water quality

Only 30% of rivers in the Tyne catchment meet water quality targets. The River Don, which forms part of the Tyne catchment, is a failing water body. We’ve been working with the Environment Agency to improve its water quality by tackling pollution from farming.

One of the key areas for improvement is reducing run-off from farms close to the river. Simple measures such as moving and storing muck in a contained muck bay can significantly reduce the amount of dirty water that flows into the river.

Better fencing can stop farm animals from getting into the river and polluting it

The other ways we’re improving water quality in the River Don include:

• Improving fencing to reduce sediment and stop farm animals from entering the river
• Using green engineering such as willow spiling to reduce bank erosion and sedimentation of the upper Don
• Working with businesses close to the river to make sure their waste is not going into the river

This work is important to increase bio-diversity and improve the quality of spawning areas for Brown Trout.