Thursday January 8th 2026
Water of Leith Conservation Trust volunteers clean up the rivers walkway during the first monthly clean up of the year.
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
The Water of Leith Conservation Trust has been protecting and improving Edinburgh’s largest river since 1988, growing the registered charity to having around 300 volunteers.
With the Water of Leith being Edinburgh’s main waterway, the river flows through the capital, stretching 24 miles. Starting in the Pentlands and emptying into the Firth of Forth, the river winds through busy urban areas, such as Dean Village and Stockbridge, often leading to pollution and waste making its way into the water stream.
Aiming to ‘improve and protect the river, its heritage and wildlife’, the trust take it upon themselves, alongside their 300 volunteers, to tidy up and protect a 13 mile stretch of the river from Balerno to Leith.
With their first 2026 monthly clean up taking place yesterday, it attracted close to 40 volunteers who all armed with garden tools, cleaning sprays and wheelbarrows, cleaned up the area of the river near Coalie Park in Leith.
The trust’s Senior Ranger, Jonny Wells, explained:
“Every month since 2020 we’ve been coming down to Leith. Normally we take a flat bottom boat out and we do a big sweep of all the Leith basins and the local green spaces to try and get as much litter as possible out from the river and the surroundings.
“Unfortunately with Leith being the end point of the river, this is where all the rubbish gets washed down to. So unfortunately it gets impacted the most by everybody else upstream and because it’s one of the most heavily populated parts of Edinburgh, it receives a lot of damage.”
With 11 employed members of staff, the trust, alongside many volunteers and community groups, aim to go out and clean the river around two to three times a week with yesterday’s clean up being a larger monthly tidy up that takes place on the 1st Wednesday of each month, attracting the most volunteers.
Jonny has been part of the trust since 2020, being encouraged to join due to his love for nature.
He explained: “I’ve lived in Edinburgh now for over 20 years, and as a small child, my parents took us to the Four corners of Scotland during the summer holidays. So I think there’s this unique passion for being outdoors.
I think whether you are up, say for example, Ben Lomand, Ben Lawers or if you just sat by a bench in Edinburgh, I think there’s something really beautiful about nature and that interaction that kind of happens.”
With yesterday attracting close to 40 volunteers, many have been volunteering for years, taking passion in cleaning their city.
Edinburgh local Ian MacKay has been taking part for over four years, coming along every month since he retired during the covid lockdowns.
“I stay in Balerno, which is obviously the opposite end of the walkway from here, but we work along the whole walkway and in fact, beyond that, we go upstream to the source”, he explained.
What made Ian’s involvement differ from Jonny’s passion is that he is involved not for environmental reasons, but to clean up and maintain the city for other residents.
He explained: “I am not passionate about the environment at all. I always think, why am I doing it? And I’m doing it because of the utility for the people of Edinburgh.
“I like the fact that people can actually use the walkway, that they can see that they’ve got a clean river. So I didn’t care much about nature at all, or the environment, but I am passionate about the people of Edinburgh.”
The Water of Leith Conservation Trust has grown significantly since 1988, now having a number of employees and a board of eight trustees. Opening a visitor centre on Lanark Road, they also focus on preserving and sharing the river’s heritage to locals, tourists and children, hosting events for youth groups and schools across the city.
To see more about the trust and the success of their first clean up of the year, watch the video below.
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