No English waterways free from chemical pollution

The ecological health of English rivers has not improved in the three years since the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs last published its classifications.

Only 16 per cent of waterways and 14 per cent of rivers were classified as “good” compared to a target in the 25-year environment plan of 75 per cent being restored to close to their natural state.

Just the rivers Till and Coquet Upper, both in Northumberland, achieved high status. There were 32 fewer water bodies in the “poor” or “bad” categories – 830 compared to 862 in 2016.

There has been some churn in the results: 332 water bodies improved, 289 deteriorated, and 32 fewer were placed in poor and bad categories.

No surface waters met the criteria for good chemical status, where 97 per cent had passed in 2016. The EA said this is due to a more stringent testing regime that found traces of PFOs, mercury and PBDEs throughout the water environment by testing shellfish and fish. Defra said the finding represent a “more accurate” picture of amount of these substances in waterways rather than an increase.

Groundwater ecological levels remained broadly level with 2015, with some deterioration.

The data for 2016-19 from rivers, lakes, canals, coastal waters and groundwater classifies the status of ecology as good, moderate, poor or fail, and chemical status on a pass or fail. The ecological classification is based on a range of indicators on the physical condition and chemistry of waters. Plants, fish, invertebrates, algae, ammonia, oxygen demand, nutrient levels of waters are all assessed. Each element must pass in order to achieve a good status and is classified based on its worst performing indicator. More than 4,000 water bodies have been given a classification.

Defra said good or better scores were received on 77 per cent of individual elements, more than a third of plant surveys and 40 per cent of fish classifications, and 75 per cent of tests on invertebrates. It said water bodies can be polluted from multiple sources but that 41 per cent are impacted by physical modification, 40 per cent by agriculture, 36 per cent by wastewater treatment process, 18 per cent by towns and cities and 16 per cent by abstraction and flow.

Environment minister Rebecca Pow said urgent action is needed: “We need to go further and faster on reducing the environmental impact from storm overflows and other sources of pollution including chemicals and agriculture,” she said. “These results show we have a long way to go, with a new way of testing for chemicals more accurately reflecting what is in our water environment. While it’s not comfortable reading, this will allow us to plan more effectively to tackle the scourge of pollution.”

A storm overflow task force has been established to assess the monitoring and reporting regime sewer overflows and examine what can be done in the short- and medium-term to mitigate the effects and reduce their prevalence.

As the UK prepares to leave the EU a chemicals framework is being established for new and legacy chemicals in use and within the environment. Similarly, the upcoming bills on environment and agriculture will dictate the levels of permitted pollutants in watercourses from business, industry and agriculture.