Page 295 - Freshwater-Biology-and-Ecology-Handbook

10.3 UK Acid Waters

Monitoring Network/
Upland Waters

Monitoring Network

The UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network (UKAWMN)
covered 11 lakes and 11 streams across the UK that were
monitored chemically and biologically from 1988 to assess
the ecological impact of acid deposition in areas believed to
be sensitive to acidification. It is managed by Defra (https://
uk-air.defra.gov.uk/networks/network-info?view=aw)
and coordinated by the Environmental Change Research
Centre (ECRC) at University College London. Results are
stored in a database managed by CEH Wallingford and are
available via links at Defra’s web page. (157)
From 2013, the UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network
became the Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UWMN)
https://uwmn.uk designed to track changes in surface
water quality and freshwater biodiversity across all
upland regions of the UK, not only those sensitive to acid
deposition. The network covers 12 lakes and 13 streams
across the UK, which are monitored chemically and
biologically.

The network is surveyed for water chemistry, fish,
macroinvertebrates, aquatic macrophytes, diatoms,
chironomids and zooplankton. Where appropriate, 10.4 Environmental
sediment traps, thermistors (from 2013), and sediment
coring are used. Standard methods are used to collect Change Network
data from the network, described at https://uwmn.uk/
methods. These methods are generally those used for
standard WFD status assessment. The Environmental Change Network (ECN) was established
in 1992 by NERC to monitor long-term environmental change
and its effects on ecosystems (http://www.ecn.ac.uk/).
It is co-ordinated by CEH. Since 1992, the Environmental
Change Network has operated sites across the UK at which
its partner organisations make a wide range of environmental
measurements. Data are sent to the ECN Data Centre
(http://data.ecn.ac.uk/), where they are checked and
added to the ECN database and made freely available for
research, education, and other non-commercial purposes.

ECN includes both terrestrial and aquatic environments.
The freshwater component of ECN covers both lakes
and rivers/streams and includes surface water chemistry
and quality, surface water discharge, phytoplankton,
aquatic macrophytes, epilithic diatoms, zooplankton, and
macroinvertebrates. Methods are described at
http://www.ecn.ac.uk/measurements/freshwater

Data from most sites are collected by the environment
agencies in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales
as part of their monitoring networks for status classification,
so standard methods are used. The remaining sites are
operated by a range of ECN partners. Several of the sites are
Upland Waters Monitoring Network sites (Section 10.3).

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