Poor river quality and fewer green spaces linked to deprivation

Environmental inequalities in urban areas have been highlighted in a report from the Environment Agency (EA) on the state of England’s towns and cities.

The report noted the link between deprived areas and lower health quality among the communities who live there due to the impacts of pollution exposure.

It said that although water quality measures have changed in the past decade, patterns of deprivation have not and the relationship of deprived populations living close to poor quality rivers “is likely to still exist”.

The EA called for further research into the nature and scale of any social impacts on people living near rivers of lower quality, as these are not measured as part of standard water quality monitoring.

Urban areas cover eight per cent of England and are home to 80 per cent of the population making these parts the most densely populated in Europe.

As well as income disparity, ethnicity played a significant role in communities’ access to green and blue spaces including domestic gardens.

EA chief executive James Bevan said the agency was “not listening as hard as it should” to poorer, disadvantaged or ethnic minority communities. This, he said, was exacerbated by not doing enough to recruit, retain and promote staff from minority backgrounds. He said the environment sector as a whole needed to value workforce diversity as much as it values biodiversity.

He said the Agency was working to better understand disadvantaged communities and to build partnerships as well as recruit more of its staff from those groups.

The report stated that up to 19,000 tonnes of microplastics enter surface water systems each year in the UK from tyre wear, which generates around 68,000 tonnes of microplastics annually.

Other pollutants to urban waterways include up to 3,7000 tonnes of microplastics from paint and road markings that can be washed into waterways during heavy rainfalls following periods of prolonged dry weather.

Water scarcity was highlighted as a threat to urban populations and necessary steps suggested in the report included significant increases in supply, demand reduction for domestic and business use. It also said water re-use, rainwater harvesting can be designed into new developments to increase water efficiency and reduce run-off. However these have yet to be put into supportive legislation.

Likewise, the report noted the benefits of incorporating sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) into urban areas but England has not yet adopted the mandatory stance that has been taken in Wales.