Beth Gill has seen many things in the River Trent: e-scooters, bins, floating plastic. But, the thing that interests her most is invisible to the naked eye. When not training and competing as a world champion canoe athlete, she is researching microbial contamination, and the health risks that it poses to communities using Nottingham’s rivers. Beth told us more about her research and why it’s important.
Having trained at Nottingham Kayak Club multiple times a day for over ten years, Beth Gill knows the city’s waterways intimately. Focused on the health of canals and rivers, the research project she is working on is part of a collaboration between the Nottingham Trent University, University of Nottingham, and the Environment Agency.
“We're really interested in bacteria that's getting into the waterways. This could be via our own waste; it could be agriculture and general runoff,” says Beth. “We're then looking to see which of those bacteria, and how many, are becoming resistant to antibiotics.”
“We see the beautiful side to it – the mist over the water, the herons flying off it – all those moments you really want to capture as a picture. But we also see some of the negative sides that as humans we’re inflicting on the waterways.”
Beyond the large litter items that Beth has seen in the river during her training sessions, there is also a well known phenomenon among water users in Nottingham: ‘Trent belly’.
Those regularly spending time on the Trent report unexplained stomach bugs, likely the result of river contamination from bacteria and viruses. Some have even been hospitalised. Beth’s study looks at which microbes – small organisms like bacteria – are in the water, and what the potential implications of this are.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the risks she is investigating: a rising global issue, which could have long term implications. Pharmaceuticals can enter the water in agricultural and human waste, potentially creating conditions for bacteria to mutate and become resistant to common antibiotics.
Beth tells me that currently research in the field of antibiotics can’t keep up with resistance, so having more information about how and why these pharmaceuticals are getting into the river could help organisations to make those necessary changes.
Getting the community involved has a profound impact because that starts the conversation. We can't see a lot of the things in the waterways, so it's making those invisible contaminants more visible
However, she doesn’t want this research to be about pointing fingers. Instead, she wants to get people talking.
“I don't want my work to just stay within the walls of the University,” says Beth. “Getting the community involved has a profound impact because that starts the conversation. We can't see a lot of the things in the waterways, so it's making those invisible contaminants more visible.”
With this in mind, Beth is calling on the people of Nottinghamshire to participate in her study.
“People sign up to the project, we send out a sample pack. They take a 50ml sample from whichever waterway they have an interest in or they're spending time on and send it back to us with a what3words location. We run it through the lab and then put the results onto an online map for people to see.”
With so many waterways in Nottingham, including the Trent, the canal, and the River Leen, Beth says that many people in the city are closer to a waterway than we realise. Not only does she want people to understand what impact they have on the waterways, but she also wants more people to get out there and use them.
“If my research gets someone on the water part of a water based club, phenomenal,” she says. “If my research inspires someone to go into science and academia, or into microbiology, that's phenomenal for me.”
Canoeing changed the trajectory of Beth’s life. She grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne playing hockey at an international level. But, when the opportunity to try canoeing as part of a Talent ID programme presented itself, she didn’t hesitate.
“My philosophy on the world is to open as many doors as possible,” says Beth. “And whichever one excites you the most, you go through that one, and then you start again.”
This approach saw her move to Nottingham and transition from hockey to canoeing, at the age of nineteen.
“All my friends continued to compete in the sport which at the time was the sport I really loved. They were going abroad and competing at a high level, while I was falling in and out of a boat in a wetsuit – questioning some choices…”
Never one to give up easily, Beth committed herself to the craft and has now built a career which has not only seen her travel the globe, but also become world champion.
Beth won the short course event at the 2022 Canoe Marathon World Championships. This came after a particularly turbulent time in her life which involved the first of two shoulder surgeries, and changes to her training support.
“I was proud, not just of the achievement, but about how we'd got there. It was not down to just me, there was a whole host of people. We built this phenomenal training group at Nottingham Kayak Club where everyone supported each other. There was just mutual respect in an entire group of twenty plus, who that year ended up racing for their country. That is something that I'm incredibly proud to have been a part of.”
Beth is no stranger to overcoming challenges. After a string of international medals in both sprint and marathon canoeing, she set her sights on the 2024 Paris Olympics. But it was not to be. A shoulder injury meant that she could only watch from home while recovering from surgery.
“Sport is full of wonderful moments, but it has some pretty dark times as well. For me, it's how you come out the other side of those and what you learn about yourself from those experiences, and take forward.”
The LA 2028 Games are the new goal. For Beth, balancing these sporting aspirations with her research is about enjoyment and being purpose driven.
“I'd say my personality is goal driven and has been in whatever I go after,” she says. “I have a goal with the PhD to have a positive impact on the communities within Nottinghamshire and further afield. In my canoeing world, I want to continue to achieve international medals and just keep improving day in, day out and enjoying it. So as long as I'm enjoying both and finding that balance between the two, that gives me a real purpose.”
For those keen to get involved in the study, the window for providing water samples is open until 31 July. Head to the link below to get involved.
collaboratoryresearchhub.ac.uk/contamination-in-nottinghams-rivers
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