The Urban River Survey is a scientific assessment method and suite of tools that supports the work of river managers in urban environments. The survey, which is a development of the Environment Agency’s River Habitat Survey, records information on the physical structure of 500m stretches of urban rivers and their margins.

Indices calculated from survey data are used to assess the relativephysical quality of individual surveyed stretches within the range achievable in an urban environment.

The Urban River Survey does not evaluate chemical or biological quality. It does assess the quality of the physical structure of riparian and aquatic vegetation.

This web site is the centre for managing and communicating Urban River Survey data. It provides: maps, charts and photographs for querying the URS database, forms for entering and checking field data, and training material explaining how to implement the URS.