Scientific progress is made through several mechanisms, including the flow of ideas and knowledge through society. As the world is facing many environmental crises, it is imperative that understanding of environmental management is passed between researchers and students, and out into the wider world. With this end in mind, The University of Sheffield’s Catchment Science Centre teamed up with Peking University’s Centre for Water Research, to run a summer school on Integrated Catchment Management in Beijing this July, thanks to a grant from RCUK. The objective of the school was to exchange ideas and knowledge about the science of Integrated Catchment Management. Both countries had plenty to offer each other; the UK contingent giving presentations on the theory of integrated catchment management, ecology, ecosystem services, and UK case studies representing a post-industrial developed country, while the Chinese provided talks on water quantity and groundwater issues, as well as giving Chinese case studies representing a developing industrial country. There were also many workshops, allowing participants to discuss concepts, and think creatively, pushing forward ideas and understanding of Integrated Catchment Management.

After enjoying the hospitality of the campus of Peking University which hosted the presentations and workshops, the school took a tour of the Haihe Catchment in which Beijing is located. Water exploitation has become so great in the water scarce Haihe Catchment that many river channels no longer contain water (See below). High rates of groundwater abstraction have resulted in a year by year decline in the water table, causing subsidence. The little surface water left is heavily degraded, being mainly composed of sewage, industrial and agricultural effluent.

Several of the school participants then flew to Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province in the west of China. The region is also water stressed, and suffers from soil erosion, giving the muddy colour to the Yellow River which flows through the city (See below). Overexploitation of its waters has led in previous years to the complete drying up of this river before it reaches the ocean. Here the school met researchers from the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental Engineering Research Institute who introduced their study region; the Heihe Catchment in the even more arid west of Gansu province. The source of the Heihe starts in glacier capped mountains that mark the northern extent of the Himalaya, before flowing north though alpine meadows, dry plains, desert and terminating in an inland lake. The theme of water overexploitation was continued as the school heard about the inland lake completely drying up in recent years, though this had lately been reversed with more prudent water usage.

At the end of the summer school it was agreed all round that sharing our western and eastern knowledge and perspectives had been very constructive. It was also clear that there was a high potential for collaboration, with both UK and Chinese partners able to bring different skills to research on Integrated Catchment Management research. We look forward to further dialogue and fruitful collaborations in the future.

Survey work carried out by Weston Park Museum counted over 500 people attending the Wildlife of our Waterways event at the museum on the 2nd of June. The high turnout was particularly rewarding to the URSULA members running activity stalls at the event, for whom spreading awareness and educating the local community in water environmental issues, and raising the profile of URSULA was their key objectives.

Inside Weston Park Museum URSULA computer scientists Lewis Gill and Ed Morgan made use of their academic skills, running a virtual reality visualisation of the River Don in Sheffield. Visitors got the chance to play a game, navigating the virtual river bank, spotting virtual wildlife in and around the virtual river. Those looking closely could catch a flash of orange and blue as a Kingfisher shot down the Don, or glimpse a rat skulking down the side of Buddleja. Some of the wildlife such as the otters was more aspirational than reality for the centre of Sheffield of which the visualisation was based whereas others such as the ducks and grey wagtails can be reliably seen at many places along the Don. We have uploaded a video of the visualisation so there is a second chance for anyone who fancies themself as a wildlife buff to have a go at spotting our river animals.

Outside in Weston Park there was more existential wildlife to be seen as URSULA's Tom Wild and Ed Shaw and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet's Peter Gribbon ran a stall for the newly established Don Catchment Rivers Trust displaying a wide range of creepy crawlies in trays caught from the River Sheaf. Visitors could participate in a game of identifying the different river mini-beasts including Mayfly, Stonefly and Caddisfly larvae, and using information of water quality requirements of the water invertebrates guess the water quality of the different river samples. And while this was a little too challenging for the younger participants, capturing the smaller invertebrates with pipettes turned out to be particularly popular with the smaller children.

Tens of thousands of baby eels have been stocked into Old Moor Nature Reserve as part of a catchment wide project to help this endangered species to recover.

The eels were placed in the wetlands on Friday 14 May, with a view to re-establishing a population in the Don catchment, via the River Dearne. This follows years of absence due to the joint impacts of pollution, habitat loss and physical barriers to migration.

Eels are known to be a critical part of the food chain, fed on by otter, bittern and many other key species which conservationists are trying to give a boost in the UK.

The project, led by the Don Catchment Rivers Trust, is funded by Defra, and involves work throughout South Yorkshire including this scheme on the River Dearne. The work involves physical modifications to barriers that restrict the fishes’ migration, awareness raising on the impacts of pollution and habitat loss, and work like this to kick-start the colonisation and recovery process.

Tom Wild said “the big challenge is the habitat, and to make sure the eels can pass up and down the river to get to and from the Sargasso Sea”.

Some experts estimate that globally, eel populations are down by as much as 95%, so every last piece of habitat is vital. And Old Moor Nature Reserve, run by RSPB, provides the perfect setting for a renaissance of this threatened species.

URSULA is an active participant in the work of the Don Catchment Rivers Trust and is supporting this kind of initiative by helping to better understand the impacts of urban river restoration measures and other interventions for the benefit of society, the environment and the economy.

For photos from the eel release click here.

To read about the latest URSULA research click here to see the hot off the press 2nd URSULA newsletter, and don't forget to check out more URSULA news here.

Eckart Lange, URSULA academic and Proffesor at the Department of Landscape at the University of Sheffield delivered a keynote presentation at the 11th Digital Landscape Architecture 2010 conference, held at Anhalt University of Applied  Sciences in Germany, entitled "3D-Visualisation for the Sustainable Development of Urban River Landscapes: Approaches in the Multidisciplinary URSULA Project."

Decided by a vote of participants of the conference, Eckart was honoured with the 'Digital Landscape Architecture 2010 Award for IT Research in Landscape Architecture'.

The refereed proceedings include the following two papers of URSULA researchers:

GILL, L., E. LANGE, E. MORGAN & D. ROMANO 2010: Interactive 3D Landscape Assessment Models. In: E. Buhmann, M. Pietsch & E.  Kretzler (eds.): Digital Landscape Architecture 2010, Wichmann, Berlin, 214-220.

MORGAN, E., L. GILL, E. LANGE & D. ROMANO 2009: Rapid Prototyping of  Urban River Corridors Using 3D Interactive, Real-time Graphics. In: E. Buhmann, M. Pietsch & E. Kretzler (eds.): Digital Landscape Architecture 2010, Wichmann, Berlin, 182-190.

Want to find out more about the wildlife in the ponds, streams and rivers in South Yorkshire? Then the Wildlife in our waterways event at Weston Park Museum is for you! With events for children and adults over the course of the day, there is something to keep everyone entertained.

From 10am til 4pm, a set of family orientated activities and exhibitions will be run, including  two run by members of the URSULA Project:

• Think you know your waterway animals and plants? Good at spotting wildlife? Well put your skills to the test and try to get the highest score you can with the Wildlife at Wicker Riverside game. In this activity for young and old, you get to explore an URSULA visualisation of Wicker in Sheffield populated by wildlife typical of rivers.  The challenge is to spot as much of this wildlife as possible, and add up your score to see if the kids are better than the parents. 100 points for a kingfisher!! 

• In case you ever wondered what bugs are living in the rivers around Sheffield, this is your chance to find out at the Creepy crawlies of rivers stand, set up by the Don Catchment Rivers Trust. See the surprising variety of minibeasts that inhabit the world of flowing water up close and personal with a microscope, and give identification a go of these alien looking critters. Younger children can colour in pictures of creepy crawlies while older children can have a go at classifying the water quality of different river samples using the creatures they find in them.

And from 7pm to 8.30pm, for those wanting to venture more deeply into natural history, several talks will be held that will discuss the wildlife in the Don Catchment in more depth:  

• Wildlife of the Living Don – John Paul Ward
• Conserving Sheffield’s Crayfish - Suzannah Dangerfield
• Fish and fishing on the Don - John Blewitt

Please book in advance by e-mailing learning@museums-sheffield.org.uk or calling 0114 2782655.

To find out the location of Weston Park Museum click here.

We hope to see you there!