Find a stone about the size of your hand and turn it over to see what bugs are lurking.

Compare what you find against the images below – scroll across to see them all.  

• If you find bugs from all sections or at least one from the green ‘Very Good Water’ cards – fantastic – the water is very clean.
• If you find none from the green section but at least one from the orange ‘Good Water’ cards then the water is doing OK – but could be better.
• If you only find invertebrates from the red section – there is a pollution problem.  Have a look at our page on what to do next.

Never wade more than ankle deep.  Never go in during a flood. Children should be supervised. Always wash your hands afterwards.