Setting Sail for Science- exploring water quality through water sports

The decline in water quality has been increasingly reported as a growing public concern due to the increasing frequency and severity of pollution episodes. Public engagement is progressively being recognised as an important element in the overall picture to understand and address environmental issues, and the ability for the public to have their voices heard is an important aspect to effectively engage people with these challenges. Although there is broad public concern over the decline of water quality in the UK, there are several stakeholders who have taken elevated advocacy roles due to their investment in these environments including open water swimmers, water sports users, dog walkers, boat owners, anglers and artists. Taking into consideration the range of viewpoints and lived experiences within these groups is an important factor in addressing these challenges. This project explores water quality through the lens of water sports, working in partnership with Sea Cadets UK, to train a generation of young people (ages 9-18) in experimental design, water quality assessment and science communication throughout the project. Taking a guided discovery approach, young people conducted monthly water quality assessment to establish how the water at their boating sites changes over the seasons and what the drivers of this might be. Water quality parameters included pH, temperature, conductivity, nitrates and phosphates, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and visual indicators of pollution. Through these initial water quality parameters, we discussed areas of pollution that are of interest to the cadets and explored experimental designs to capture this going forwards, for example including plastic pollution and microplastic detection methods. Ecoanxiety is the term used to describe the negative and helpless emotions experienced by people when thinking about the scale of ecological issues, however, it goes beyond focusing on climate issues to encompass a wider collection of environmental issues including water quality. The ability for young people to have their voices heard is an important part of engaging the public in these topics, and this project prioritises giving the young people the opportunity and resources needed to design and conduct this work. The results and outputs from this project are written into peer education training materials for use in groups ages 9-18, as legacy training resources and explores  ways that young people can advocate for their environments to help address the helplessness that is often associated with ecoanxiety.   In addition to engaging the public, this project is also a good case study in the importance of public engagement and the value of moving beyond a dissemination approach by highlighting the benefits and importance of involving the public during the early stages of research. This work enabled a diverse and engaging skills exchange between different groups which will hopefully inspire and support further public engagement projects and codesign research in the future.