The British open water will be “filthy”. An environmental watchdog has warned this will continue for decades unless urgent changes are made. The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) found “very concerning” problems with the way laws are applied to protect England's riverslakes and coastal waters are put into practice.
Dame Glenys Stacey, chair of the OEP, said: “We have found that while the relevant law here is broadly sound, it is simply not being implemented effectively. This means that the water is not performing as intended and as a result, most of our open water is likely to remain in poor condition for years to come unless something changes. This is very worrying.
“Whilst we know there are dedicated and professional people working hard to improve the condition of our rivers, as in so many other aspects of the environment, the Government must now provide substantial funding for a wider range of specific measures, at pace and with ambition. .”
The OEP warned that there is “significant need” to strengthen the way environmental law is applied to water to ensure it is effective.
The body made 15 recommendations to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency, designed to improve prospects protecting and improving the aquatic environment.
This includes a review of how to approach the monitoring and regulation of new and emerging chemicals.
Dame Glenys said: “The Government must accelerate and scale up its efforts to protect and improve our waters.”
Sewage ends up in the rivers of England and seas by water companies more than doubled last year.
According to the Environment Agency, there were 3.6 million hours of leaks, compared to 1.75 million hours in 2022.
Charles Watson, founder and chairman of River Action, said: “Today's OEP assessment makes grim reading for our rivers and is a damning vote of no confidence in the ability of Defra and the EA to achieve their statutory targets of bringing the majority of our water bodies to 'good' ecological status by 2027.
“With almost all of our rivers failing ecologically, it is shocking to read the OEP's conclusion that current government plans are clearly woefully inadequate to tackle this environmental crisis.
“We fully support the OEP's demands that the Minister pull out his finger and take urgent action to develop additional, specific, time-bound and fully funded measures to address the problems. the sorry state of our rivers.”
The government has announced plans to fund 180 local projects across England to improve water quality.
Water Minister Robbie Moore said: “It builds on recent action to clean up our rivers, including consultation on a ban on water company bonuses, the launch of a new Water Restoration Fund to re-introduce fines and penalties from water companies into the water environment. investment, and a fourfold increase in Environment Agency inspections.”
A government spokesperson said: “This government has done more than any other government to protect and restore our riverslakes and coastal waters with record levels of investment, monitoring and enforcement. We welcome the recommendations of this report moving forward and will study them in detail.
“We are confident that the catchment management plans are in line with current regulations and we have already committed to reforming these plans and providing tailor-made long-term proposals to improve all water bodies in England.