MUSSELBURGH folk have gathered together to find out how they can help care for the River Esk.

Members of the Fisherrow Harbour and Seafront Association enjoyed a recent guided walk along the banks of the Esk through the town, which was organised as part of the Citizen Esk project.

From its inception in 2022, the project, funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and delivered by the Forth Rivers Trust (FRT), has been supporting communities to learn, understand and get involved with the Esk.

A project spokesperson said: “Following increased engagement with the North and South Esks over the Covid-19 lockdowns, more locals began noticing the range of issues impacting the river – from ‘run-off’ pollution, discharges of untreated sewage, barriers to fish migration and even a diesel spill – the communities that live, work and engage in recreation alongside the Esks were frustrated by what they saw.

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“As the project approaches the end of its second year, FRT are working with the community across the catchment to connect people with their local river, providing opportunities for them to ask questions about issues they feel are most relevant, and supporting them to gather data about these issues.”

The project spokesperson added: “The FRT staff discussed everything from man-made modifications of rivers to sewage outfalls, plastic pollution, invasive species and challenges associated with flood prevention.

“The walk proved to be very successful, being fully booked, demonstrating there is a keen interest from local people to better understand their river.”

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Project manager Ross Hughes later said: “It’s great to see people taking such an active interest in their river, recognising that the more they understand it, the more they can do to help it.

“Rivers are incredibly complex and it’s not always obvious that they are under pressure: our project is helping people to identify those pressures, giving them support to gather data, and empowering them with skills and knowledge that means they can call for improvements which provide the best outcomes for both the river and local communities.”

Citizen Esk is community-led, aiming to respond to questions and issues highlighted by local people, with several “successes” to date:

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  • Facilitated 54 public walks, on topics ranging from invasive species and control measures to wastewater impact, understanding acid mine water, understanding man-made changes to the rivers and their impact on wildlife;
  •  Two public site visits to coal authority plants;
  • One site visit to Seafield treatment plant for steering group members;
  • Engaged over 2,000 citizens of the Esk at community events and galas;
  • Twenty training events – teaching people about outfall safari, water quality testing and river habitat surveying;
  • Supported citizens in reporting half-a-dozen pollution incidents to SEPA and Scottish Water since May 2022.

More guided walks will take place across the catchment area.

Those involved in a community organisation and who would like to join a walk and learn more about their local Esk river should contact Ross (r.hughes@forthriverstrust.org) or Elijah (e.graham@forthriverstrust.org).

From next month, the project will begin delivering training sessions on the identification and reporting of INNS (invasive non-native species), providing Esk citizens with the knowledge needed to identify and record the presence of these species.

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The project spokesperson said: “This will allow us to build a clearer picture of the scale of the INNS problem across the Esk catchment as a whole, data which is vital to the formation of any successful treatment plan.

“More information about these sessions, which will be delivered both in-person and online, will be available on the Citizen Esk project page soon (forthriverstrust.org/project/citizen-esk).

“From May, we will continue delivering Outfall Safari surveys, a citizen science method enabling local people to identify sources of pollution on the Esks.

“Our target is to survey the Esk from its mouth in Musselburgh all the way upstream to Carlops on the North Esk, and to Roseberry Reservoir on the South Esk.

“Survey volunteers felt it was ‘a bit like water infrastructure hide-and-seek’ exploring hidden corners and scenic areas of the river they normally didn’t walk through.

“With 34km of river surveys completed and over 84 outfalls identified, we are just 16km away from completing our surveying of the mainstems of the Esks. More training sessions for Outfall Safari will be available in May.”