Water chemistry of Welsh upland rivers (2012-2013)

Samples from the WAWS catchments were taken during the summer and autumn of 2012 and spring and summer of 2013. The data were collected to characterise water chemistry variation along a gradient of aquatic biodiversity associated with different environmental settings for example land-use intensify and recovery from acidification. Dr Isabelle Durance was responsible for organising the surveys, Dr Hugh Feeley was in charge of collecting and preserving the water samples.

Analysis of the water samples was carried out at the Forest Research Laboratories. The work was carried out under Diversity in Upland Rivers for Ecosystem Service Sustainability (DURESS) project (Grant reference NERC NE/J014818/1). DURESS was a project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) programme. | Filtered and unfiltered water samples were collected in situ using standardised procedures.

Samples were then sent to the Forest Research Laboratory to be analysed for pH, alkalinity, conductivity, major anions and cations. Results were entered into an Excel spreadsheet. Data were exported as comma separated files for ingestion into the Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC)