Yesterday the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee published their Water Quality in Rivers report, and the results are damning
Chemical cocktail’ of sewage, slurry and plastic polluting English rivers puts public health and nature at risk
The Environmental Audit Committee warns that poor water quality in English rivers is a result of chronic underinvestment and multiple failures in monitoring, governance, and enforcement.
Only 14% of English rivers meet good ecological status, with pollution from agriculture, sewage, roads, and single-use plastics contributing to a dangerous ‘chemical cocktail’ coursing through our waterways. Not a single river in England has received a clean bill of health for chemical contamination.
The Water Quality in Rivers report has been a year in the making and highlights the following issues:
- Outdated, inadequate and underfunded monitoring
- Public health risks
- Multiple pressures on freshwater eco-systems
- Sewage and agricultural pollution
- Road run off, fatbergs and wet wipe reefs
The report also makes recommendations for significant changes to address the chronic pollution of our rivers and calls for Government regulatory and polluter action to improve the state of our rivers for all to enjoy. The Government has two months to respond and we hope to see that urgent action is taken to protect the UK’s rivers.
Read more about the Water Quality in Rivers report: