Green light for £5bn river protections

The Environment Agency has approved £5.3 billion of spending over the next five years to protect and enhance English rivers.

The EA’s River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) set out how to tackle pollutions from agriculture and wastewater treatment as well as the impacts of climate change and population growth on waterways.

The funding will include £4.3 billion investment by water companies and more than £500 million to mitigate the impacts of agriculture on the water environment by 2027.

This will be delivered through the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) as well as work by NGOs to restore river flows, improve water quality, restore peatland and plants trees.

“Whilst progress has been made to protect and enhance England’s waters, it is clear that considerable time and investment will still be needed if we are to see the further improvement in our water environment that we all want”, EA executive director John Leyland said.

“Without that investment beyond 2027, and if the impacts of climate change are left unchecked, the number of water bodies meeting the required standard could fall to just 6% by 2043.”

At present only 16% of waterbodies are classified as good ecological status against the target of 75% by the 2040s as set out in the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

Each river basin region has a dedicated management programme setting out the projects to be delivered and work scheduled locally and nationally.

Draft RBMPs were criticised for “lacking ambition” at a time when faster action is required to improve water quality.

The EA approves and updates the plans every five years, following a public consultation. The consultation highlighted the need for longer-term planning to adapt to climate change and to use a system-wide “source to sea” approach.

Responses to the consultation called for greater engagement to boost public understanding and appreciation of the importance of clean and plentiful water and the need for efficiency measures.