08 Jan 2025
Citizen science testing of river water quality will expand this year in an attempt to make the data part of official monitoring of waterways, the head of an independent environmental research group has said. Photo credit: Zowie Green The use of ordinary people across the country to test river water quality for pollutants […]
31 Dec 2024
The Drinking Water Inspectorate, part of Defra, has published the second 3-yearly report on the quality of drinking water supplies in England, covering 2020 to 2022. It summarises the quality of public supplies and the largest private supplies serving more than 5,000 consumers or 1,000 cubic metres (m3) a day. The Drinking Water Inspectorate regulates […]
31 Dec 2024
According to a Watershed Investigation, bathing waters across the UK are awash with pharmaceuticals, pesticides, industrial chemicals, harmful bacteria and genes that can create superbugs resistant to antibiotics, including medicines used as a last line of defence. In collaboration with the University of York, citizen scientists and Surfers Against Sewage, hundreds of samples were taken […]
24 Dec 2024
Projects based in Yorkshire, Outer Hebrides and Merseyside have received a share of £2.4 million from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation. The studies are the first NERC research projects to be co-led by local community members and scientists from beginning to end. Reducing coastal erosion A project led […]
27 Nov 2024
Defra has published bathing water results showing that 92% of English bathing waters meet water quality standards. The number of monitored bathing waters in England rated as poor and unfit for swimming has more than doubled, from 18 to 37. Out of the 450 sites regularly tested this summer for bacteria related to sewage discharges, […]
02 Oct 2024
The Environment Agency is asking people visiting or living near Lake Windermere, the River Ribble at Edisford Bridge or the River Nidd in Yorkshire to become citizen scientists by providing a range of information, about what they can see at the sites, to help shape future plans to improve water quality. To support this, the […]
02 Oct 2024
The Environment Agency has provided indicative, catchment-scale source apportionment and estimated diffuse sector reductions required to meet protected area water quality target The Environment Agency has published a new report highlighting indicative, catchment-scale source apportionment and estimated diffuse sector reductions required to meet protected area water quality targets. Although the results are indicative, and not […]
25 Sep 2024
The government has accepted that not enough progress has been made in improving the water environment in England. The admission came in response to the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive regulations and River Basin Management Planning. Defra’s response recognises that “The government agrees that there has […]
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