the environment

Biosecurity and Invasive non-native species

The Club is currently working with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to prevent the spread of invasive non-native species (INNS) and is exercising biosecurity guidelines. We are asking any members or visitors ariving at our site to arrive with clean and dry equipment.

Jet washers are available to clean your equipment when leaving and it is advised if you are likely to be paddling elsewhere before returning to our site.

We have acheived the AQUA Bronze award for the efforsts we are taking to help protect the water environment we all enjoy.

The Environment

Water Quality

As kayakers we are interacting with our environment everytime we go out on the water. It is important to Sheffield Canoe Club that our members do their part to look after the places we paddle whether that is at out site in Oughtibridge or away somewhere. We carry out regular river clean-ups on our stretch of the Upper Don and the sports ground we are a part of. Get in touch if you would like to help with these.

We all know there are problems with the way our rivers and water treatment are manged and have seen a decline in river health in the last few years. It is important to stress however that we have many paddlers at our site in Oughtibridge over the year and very few cases of sickness have come to our attention.

Upstream of Oughtibridge are a number of water treatment plants, some being upgraded and others decommissioned. Yorkshire Water announced in 2024 a series of investments and upgrades to improve river water quality and we hope to see the fruits of that investment in the future. Until then, if you are concerned about the water please check on the live overflow map. Yorkshire Water Map

However, in the meantime, as a club, we shall endeavour to take all possible precautions to ensure the safety of paddlers on our home waters. Yorkshire Water now provide near real-time information on discharges from their sites via this website, zoom in on those upstream of Oughtibridge to find out whether dishcarges are occuring.