One day, a man in Salford Quays awoke to find a duck nesting on his balcony, 150 ft above the water. Once born, her ducklings had to be lowered down in a bucket. With over 20 acres of water at her disposal, why did that mother duck decide to nest there? And why did thousands of fish in the same location die overnight?

Inspired by talking to the duckling rescuer, the inventor of cutting-edge water monitoring equipment, and an award-winning science fiction author, Emma Newman imagines a future where communities help to keep waterways across the UK clean enough to swim in thanks to a nifty monitoring system.

In episode 5 we heard from:

• Steve Stuttard, duckling rescuer (watch Steve's rescues on YouTube)
• Glynn Cotton from WATR, the environmental monitoring system
• Rachelle Atalla, author of "The Pharmacist" and "Dirty Animals"

Additional resources related to the episode

Join a local action group

Support the Show.