Surrey rivers are among the most polluted in the UK
New research has found unacceptable levels of nutrient pollution in the area's freshwater systems.
A new report has found that water quality in Surrey is amongst the ten worst counties in the country.
75% percent of measurements taken in the area found unacceptable pollution levels in our local rivers.
Surrey falls within the Thames River basin region, which has the worst water quality in the UK.
Only 10% of the measurements taken across Thames basin show acceptable pollution levels.
That includes Surrey tributaries of the Thames, such as the River Wey and the River Mole.
The River Mole is particularly affected, where over 90% percent of the measurements recorded found unacceptable levels of healthy water.
The findings come from a new study entitled the ‘Great UK WaterBlitz Report’.
It was conducted by Earthwatch Europe, who utilise citizen science to collect their data.
They equip members of the community with the skills and resources to monitor the healthiness of their local freshwater.
Dr Sasha Woods is Director of Science and Policy at Earthwatch Europe.
She said the research was conducted by measuring the levels of nitrate and phosphate nutrient pollution in rivers across the country:
“Nitrates and phosphates in small amounts are needed for plant growth, but when they're in high concentrations, they cause a process called eutrophication.”
“That's when you get large algal blooms, and you then get increased levels of bacteria which decrease the level of oxygen in the water, and that kills plants and animals.”
“Nitrates and phosphates are an indicator of poor ecological health because they cause this loss of biodiversity, this loss of plants and animals.”
“Across the UK, 75% of the measurements that our citizen scientists took indicated high levels of nitrates and phosphates, but in the Thames region this rose to 90% that indicated poor ecological health.”
There is much debate about the cause of the poor ecological state of many rivers in the UK.
This is due to the complex and interconnected range of pollution sources which exist, and there are currently no specific insights relating to Surrey.
Dr Woods outlined the most common detrimental factors:
“The first main source of nitrates and phosphates is agricultural runoff.”
“That's water running off farmlands and washing either artificial fertilisers or manure into the water.”
“The other major source is of course, from sewage discharge.”
Dr Woods added that if the situation is not addressed immediately there will be serious environmental consequences.
She explained Earthwatch wants to see a national strategy for freshwater health covering all forms of pollution and backed by citizen science data:
“We have five key points that we would like government and other stakeholders to address.”
“That is ensuring that the law is enforced, we have lots of laws around water quality, but I don't think they're always properly enforced.”
“We want to see pollution become unprofitable.”
“We'd like to see targets focused on smaller streams compared to rivers, as our data showed that smaller streams are less polluted than rivers, but they are more susceptible to that pollution.”
“We'd also like to see nature based solutions implemented, you can have manmade wetlands and that will improve water quality.”
“Finally, we want to see citizen science used to help monitor the state of our river health, where individuals and communities are engaged.”