Defra has published a summary of responses and the government response to the recent consultation on continuous water quality monitoring and event duration monitoring. The consultation sought views on the government’s proposals to enhance the monitoring of storm overflows and final effluent discharges into watercourses Some key points from the government’s response Urban Pollution Management […]
National Highways (NH) has published its 2030 Water Quality Plan. It sets out a high-level programme of work to mitigate all high-risk outfalls by 2030. There are 1,236 outfalls & soakaways identified by NH as having a potential high risk of pollution. Of these, 145 have a verified high risk of pollution and therefore require […]
A coalition of 15 leading environmental groups has written to the Government urging it not to delay or cut back on environmental spend at PR24 to improve water quality. The organisations include the Wildlife Trusts, Rivers Trust, Surfers against Sewage, RSPB England, Friends of the Earth and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. They were responding to […]
Water Supply and Quality: New Briefing Notes available CIWEM’s water supply and quality specialist panel has put together four new briefing notes on water quality issues. They are a source of information compiled by experts to better understand the key concepts and issues related to these specific water quality topics. You can find the new […]
WWT has published a report ‘Wetlands for Water Quality: Creating and managing treatment wetlands to improve water quality. Read the press release here and the executive summary below. Executive summary Wetlands can play a vital role in helping us tackle our current water quality crisis by filtering out pollutants that pass through naturally occurring wetlands. […]
Recreational drugs, pesticides and medicines have been found in seawater samples collected off the south coast of England. Researchers from Brunel and Portsmouth universities analysed nearly 300 samples from Langstone and Chichester harbours, in Hampshire and West Sussex. Photo by Bob Brewer The researchers said they found more than 50 different chemical compounds. They […]
New analysis of official Environment Agency data has revealed the worrying scale of chemical cocktail pollution in rivers and other freshwater sites across England. The research, which looked at the prevalence of 5 chemical cocktails known to have toxic impacts for wildlife, also highlights the lack of official monitoring for known harmful chemical cocktails, as […]
Chalk streams are a rare and valuable habitat, often referred to as the equivalent of England’s rainforests. Since 2020 the Environment Agency has been working in partnership with Norfolk Rivers Trust to improve an internationally important chalk stream, the River Wensum. Works taking place in Foulsham and Pudding Norton on 2 tributaries of the river […]