Water quality in England
and Wales has improved for the nineteenth
year in row the Environment Agency announced
today
As a result, more rivers
are becoming home for species that were
once thought to be in terminal decline such
as salmon, eel and otters.
The improvement has
been achieved through investment by water
companies, tougher action on polluters,
changing farming practices and thousands
of local projects. The Environment Agency
has also announced ambitious new plans to
revitalise and transform over 9,000 miles
of river by 2015 under a new European directive.
In the South West a
third (33%) of rivers, lakes and coastal
waters achieved ‘good’ or ‘high’ ecological
status under the new and more stringent
Water Framework Directive. This compares
favourably with an average figure of 26%
for England and Wales.
The new directive sets
even higher quality standards for rivers
using a wider range of measures than previously
to assess chemical and biological water
quality. This means more needs to be done
at certain lakes, rivers and coastal waters
to bring them up to the latest quality standards.
Where rivers do not
already meet the tougher standards, the
Environment Agency will focus its efforts
on ensuring they comply with the Water Framework
Directive, if possible, by 2015. The Agency
already has enough information on 43% of
these sites to improve their ecological
status. The remaining 57% require further
investigation.
The Water Framework
Directive will require continuing efforts
by the water industry to tackle discharge
from sewage treatment works and the removal
of water from rivers. It will also require
action from farmers to stop pollution from
land getting into rivers, lakes and coastal
areas. Pollution from towns and cities will
also need to be tackled if the improvements
required by Europe are going to be delivered.
The Agency plans set
out how each of these will be tackled, to
clean up rivers, lakes, estuaries and the
coast. In the South West it aims to improve
3,470 km of the 8,660 km of river covered
by the Water Framework Directive in the
South West by 2015.
‘Our rivers are at their cleanest for over
a century, but we need to go even further
to meet the new EU measures for water quality,’
said Ben Bunting for the Environment Agency.
‘That is why we have
announced plans to clean up 13,500 km of
river across England and Wales over the
next five years. Our strategy will tackle
the pollution and obstructions that prevent
wildlife returning to some areas and we
will working with farmers, water companies
and groups such as the RSPB to get the best
deal for our environment and learn to adapt
to a changing climate.’
For more information
our rivers, lakes and the general water
environment, visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/wfd.
Annual results on the state of rivers in
England and Wales: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/library/data/34383.aspx
