16th April 2025 Environment Monitoring Results

Damping and Testing from the River Deben at and above Brandeston

We have recently added a new section to our regular testing upstream of Brandeston, taking samples from the River Deben including the Earl Soham watercourse and from Framsden Brook. We also took samples from ditches that flow towards the river and which contained water. Give the lack of recent rain, our observations are that most roadside and field ditches are still dry.

The W3W map below shows the six sampling sites and the key results at each site; the commentary below gives more details on our findings.

The results for the four River Deben sampling points show that it is relatively clean and unpolluted in terms of E.coli, phosphate and nitrate. None of the other key measures (Electrical Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids and pH) appear to show any significant problems although the Electrical Conductivity numbers are on the high side, indicating the presence of quite high levels of sulphates, bicarbonates, chlorides and other dissolved solids. These results are good news and are consistent with the findings for the Easton to Kettleburgh stretch found recently on our 31st March safari.

We took samples at Framsden, just outside the village where a small brook crosses a side road; this flows into the Deben about a mile away. The results show significant pollution both in terms of E.coli at 120+ colonies per 1ml and Phosphate as P at 0.34 ppm; both are outside acceptable limits and probably results from domestic cess-pit leakage as there was no sign of any cattle or other likely culprits. We are reporting this to the Environment Agency as the E.coli level is as high as is often found from an STW outfall.

We also sampled water in a stagnant ditch near Friday Street. Here the results are more difficult to interpret as Electrical Conductivity and Total Dissolved Solids were both very low showing little evidence of high mineral presence. However, E.coil at 30 colonies per 1ml  and Phosphate as P at 0.47 ppm were high; our interpretation is that there is evidence here of considerable run-off pollution from a recently planted vineyard adjacent to the ditch. This sample result needs more investigation as we could not locate the E.coli source.

Thanks as always to our brilliant team of citizen science volunteers for their findings - If you'd like to get involved just get in touch here!