Previous Spotlights

The Environment Agency was an active partner of Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative (CaSTCo), an Ofwat innovation project led by The Rivers Trust and United Utilities.

Our citizen science leads have provided expert guidance from the start, advising how community science can complement professional catchment monitoring. The partnership has shown how communities, regulators, and water companies can collect and use evidence together to improve river health.

See the case studies from the demonstration catchments.

CaSTCo's Impact Report highlights the scale of collaboration and the benefits of keeping this momentum going.

In September, Environment Agency Chair, Alan Lovell, took park in The Rivers Trust's Big River Watch and Earthwatch Europe's Great UK WaterBlitz – alongside Environment Agency Monitoring Manager Kerry Sims and thousands of volunteers across the country.

Citizen science bridges the gap between professional monitoring and community action. While our teams work tirelessly to monitor England's water environment, we can't be everywhere at once. That's where citizen scientists come in, providing local insights and real-time observations that help us build a complete picture of river health.

December 2025

Celebrating decades of dedication to the Rainfall Observers Network on International Volunteering Day

Every day at 0900 UTC, a countrywide network of 1000 volunteers read and record data from storage rain gauges — a task that has helped build a vital archive of precipitation trends spanning hundreds of years. These gauges, inspected on a rotating three-year cycle by the Met Office’s team of seven Regional Network Officers, form the backbone of the UK’s long-term rainfall records.

In a heartwarming celebration of public service, long-standing volunteers who have dedicated years to recording daily rainfall were honoured at a special gathering in the North East. “These volunteers are the unsung heroes of climate science. Their dedication enables us to maintain one of the most comprehensive rainfall datasets in the world.” said Sam Everitt, Senior Technical Advisor (Hydrometry) at the Environment Agency.

The initiative also highlights the close collaboration between the Environment Agency, the Met Office, and other partners including Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Natural Resources Wales, in maintaining the integrity of the UK’s hydrological records.

You can find out more about the Rainfall Observers Network here.