Covered by the BBC and in the Guardian

All rivers in England have been declared dirty after every single one failed to meet quality tests for pollution, according to a review by the Environment Agency.

Just 14 per cent of England’s rivers are in good overall environmental condition – while not one of them is entirely free from chemical pollution, the review found.

The general ecological health of the country’s rivers, which includes factors such as wildlife content and dissolved oxygen levels as well as pollution, has not changed since the last analysis in 2016.

When lakes, canals, coastal waters and groundwaters are factored in, the proportion of England’s total water bodies that are in good ecological condition rises to 16 per cent – also the same as in 2016.

Target looks doubtful

This makes the Government’s official target of putting three quarters of England’s water bodies in good environmental shape by 2027 look increasingly unlikely – although it insists it’s still committed to that target.

While the overall health of England’s rivers looks very similar now to the way it did in 2016, the latest review casts quite a different light on chemical pollution, as new sampling methods allowed researchers to analyse of the flesh of fish and shellfish, giving a much more detailed picture.

As a result, while 97 per cent of surface water bodies were given a pass in terms of their chemical status four years ago, all of them failed this time as pollutants were found across-the-board, most of which had gone undetected using previous techniques.

In many cases, the quantities of these pollutants would have been very low but enough to make the difference between passing and failing the chemical status test.

Sources of pollution

Much of the pollution comes from agricultural and industrial chemicals washing into the rivers, run-off from roads and sewer overflows.

Meanwhile, people pouring chemicals down sinks and blocking sewage systems by flushing wet wipes down the toilet is also playing a part.

“These results show we have a long way to go [but] we are absolutely committed to achieving our water quality ambitions,” said environment minister Rebecca Pow.

“We need to go further and faster on reducing the environment impact from storm overflows and other sources of pollution including chemicals and agriculture,” she said.

Environment Agency response

Environment Agency chair Emma Howard Boyd added: “To get where we want to be everyone needs to improve how they use water now and that means water companies, farmers and the public.”

Three harmful chemicals were found in all England’s rivers, lakes and other water bodies. They are mercury, a common flame retardant known as polyphenyl ether, or PPE, and P-Phos, used in oil and water repellents, furniture and waterproof clothing.

The figures provide further evidence that England’s waterways lag those elsewhere in the UK and much of Europe.

The rest of the UK

Using similar but not identical criteria, researchers have found that 65.7 per cent of Scottish and 64 per cent of Welsh rivers, lakes and other water bodies are in good health. Meanwhile, 31.3 per cent of Northern Ireland’s rivers are in good health.

RSPB chief executive Becky Speight said: “Our waterways are the lifeblood of our environment. But we are wrecking them through pollution and by extracting and draining too much water away.”

“Only legally binding targets and transparent, properly-funded monitoring will lead to real change for nature,” she said.