The Environment Agency published plans to improve the state of waterways in England over the next five years, backed by £5.3bn of funding. The documents were published on 22^nd December and there has been extensive coverage and reaction.

The EA’s River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) are a legally-binding environmental planning framework setting environmental objectives to tackle the chief challenges facing the water environment, including water company pollution, agricultural pollution, climate change and population growth. These plans were originally due out last December but progress has been hampered by pandemic-related delays.

Wildlife Trusts reaction

The Wildlife Trusts said that the new River Basin Management Plans are the third instalment of proposals to restore nearly 5,000 rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters across England. ‘The first two sets of plans – from 2009 and 2015 – were supposed to oversee the recovery of a large proportion of these waters by 2015 and 2021 respectively. Both targets were largely missed.’

The NGO went on to say that ‘relentless pollution, combined with the impacts of extreme weather and drought, mean England’s waterways have seen little improvement since plans were first devised well over a decade ago.

Currently, only 16% of waters in England are in good ecological health and none meet chemical standards. This means that overall, 0% of England’s rivers, lakes, estuaries or seas are currently in a healthy condition.’

Target dates and Defra response

The Guardian reported that targets to clean up the majority of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters have been pushed back from 2027 to 2063

However, Defra have responded that it was ‘incorrect to claim that the target for Good status of England’s water bodies has moved back to 2063. This is not true – it remains at 2027.’

They went on to say that ‘there is, however, an exemption for a small number of persistent chemicals – known as uPBT (ubiquitous, persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic) substances. This exemption is set out in the WFD and is fully compliant with the regulations.

It recognises that although we have taken action to prevent them entering the water – including national and international bans – there is no feasible technical solution to remove them entirely and they will take time to naturally drop to required levels.

The 2063 date for these persistent chemicals mentioned is not a new target, it is a modelling prediction by the Environment Agency on how long it will take for the levels to dissipate under the exemption.’

The Wildlife Trusts pointed out that the reason for the extremely long road to recovery of river health outlined in the new plans is, in the majority of cases, chemical pollution. Waterways are polluted by chemicals from landfill sites, urban runoff or agriculture, and when these chemicals have already reached the environment, there’s very little that can be done to remove them. It will take until at least the 2060s for waters to be clean from existing chemical pollution.

The NGO went on to say that if controls on chemicals are relaxed through the Retained EU Law Bill, a wave of new pollutants could place the recovery of England’s rivers even further out of reach.

Environment Agency Executive Director John Leyland said:

“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.

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.

The plans published today set out the next important steps we all need to take together.”

Resources and further information:

• The Wildlife Trusts reaction to the publication of the plans can be read in full here.
• Articles can be found, amongst other sources, in Edie, the Guardian and ENDSreport [paywall].
• The Environment Agency’s press release can be read here.
• The response from the Defra press office to coverage can be read here.
• The updated River Basin Management plans can be found here.