Celebrating #EUGreenWeek with a Natural Course drop-in session

On May 24th, The Rivers Trust, United Utilities, Environment Agency, Natural England and GMCA held a meet and greet in central Manchester to celebrate #EUGreenWeek.

On the run-up to the session, the collaborative team invited wider project affiliates involved in the delivery of Natural Course to produce posters about the projects they were working on. The session was a great opportunity for those outside the core team to meet each other and share experiences and knowledge with one and other.

The posters generated were:

The Catchment Ecology Project – an element of the Natural Course project which focuses on the River Irwell Catchment: gathering and sharing ecological data; establishing, enhancing, and expanding surveys and monitoring projects. The data will be used by Greater Manchester Ecology Unit to provide detailed advice and guidance on local plans and developments.

The Irwell Management Catchment, Natural Capital Account and Ecosystem Services Assessment – a study which was generated to provide evidence that the natural environment of the Irwell management catchment provides significant and sustained value to society.

The River Irk Outfall Survey – a survey which took place to understand the diffuse pollution pressures on the 3 water bodies that make up the River Irk Catchment.

Safeguard zones in the Irwell– evidence by United Utilities to halt the deterioration in water quality due to human activities on the land and to generate costs savings.

Academic Forum – Diversifying the approach to academic engagement through collaboration.

Contaminated Surface Water –  Finding ‘misconnections’ – pipes that are connected incorrectly and running directly into the river network.

Integrated Catchment Approach – Changing the way United Utilities work with river catchments and developing a truly integrated catchment based approach.

River Weaver Demonstration Site – Trialling innovative, low-cost technologies and implementing learning across catchments with small wastewater treatment works and tight phosphorus targets.

The session really conveyed the size of the project and its findings to date.

The team are currently working on phase 2 of the Natural Course project focusing in on 5 themes: catchment understanding, governance, natural capital, natural flood management and diffuse pollution in urban and rural areas.

This year’s EU Green Week was all about Greener Cities, you can find an engaging guide on 52 steps towards a greener city here.