"Serious consequences" for East Anglia's drinking water sources if pollution not addressed
A report from the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee found that only 12 per cent of England's rivers have good ecological status
Last updated 14th Jan 2022
Prompt action is needed to protect East Anglia's rivers, according to a water conservation agency.
It comes after a report by the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee found that only 12 percent of England's rivers possessed a good ecological status.
The report also found that not a single river in the country has received a clean bill of health for chemical contamination and that there is "a dangerous ‘chemical cocktail’ coursing through our waterways."
Martha Meek is from the River Waveney Trust, an environmental charity that works to improve and protect the river that runs across Norfolk and Suffolk. She says the picture painted by the report is one that she is seeing on the ground as well.
"The Waveney is subject to the same kind of pressures as all the other rivers in the UK and we have seen sewage outflows throughout the whole of the river.
"Some of the larger sewage treatment works are unfortunately discharging sewage on a regular basis into our river. Also, with Waveney being in an agricultural catchment, it has the pressure of quite a lot of diffuse agricultural runoff being dumped as well."
One of the many reasons for this situation, according to the report is the use of outdated, inadequate and underfunded monitoring systems. She told us: "Budget cuts to the Environment Agency have hampered the ability to monitor water quality in rivers and detect permit breaches or pollution incidents from the water industry and farming."
A spokesperson for the agency in East Anglia says, "The Environment Agency has launched a major investigation into possible unauthorised spills at thousands of sewage treatment works, secured fines of over £137 million since 2015 for pollution incidents."
They also concluded seven prosecutions in 2021 against water and sewerage companies with fines of £90 million, two of £4 million, £2.3 million, £1.5 million, £150,000 and £540,000.
But Ms Meek says going after the large polluters alone isn't enough.
"There is a chronic underfunding of the Environment Agency, which is preventing them from effectively following up on pollution incidents. They are unfortunately unable to regulate and enforce in the way that they should be doing, especially for some of the smaller pollution incidents.
"And very often, it is the many smaller pollution incidents that actually caused the problems to our rivers, often more so than the larger pollution incidents."
All this has led to a worrying picture for ecosystems that survive in rivers like Waveney.
"This (sewage and chemical dumping) can cause a build-up of algal blooms, which can unfortunately choke out other river life.
"There will be a lot of people who think the Waveney looks great. It looks like a really healthy river. Unfortunately, there are things going on that you can't see. We've got to think about micro plastics, chemical pollution and other contaminants.
"Obviously you can't see these with the naked eye but they do have a huge impact on our on the water quality of the Waveney."
The river, like many others also service the needs of local communities around it. She explains: "I think we can say that all of our our towns and villages are all actually built up around these rivers. They are based around these water ecosystems.
"There are public health risks from things like sewage entering our water. So we want to make sure that those rivers are safe both for us and the biodiversity it supports as well."
So what steps can we take to reverse this trend?
The chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, the Philip Dunne MP says: "To deliver real change and improve the state of our rivers, a wide range of stakeholders must come together including the Government, regulators and water companies.
"Monitoring regimes need to be reviewed, enforcement needs to be ramped up, and even public awareness needs boosting on what can and cannot be poured down drains or flushed down the toilet."
It's a sentiment echoed by Ms Meek.
"We need to see collaboration by Government, by businesses, land owners, drainage authorities and the public to see rivers restored to good ecological health.
"We also need a change in regulation and enforcement by the Environment Agency. They do need to follow up on pollution incidents more often, but for that they need more funding. We also must see more investments by water companies into outdated sewage treatment works and invest in nature based solutions."
A spokesperson for Anglian Water says: "As a business with ensuring environmental protection and prosperity at its core, we know what we need to achieve to improve river health and be trusted custodians of the natural environment.
"But the real improvements we all want to see in our waterways are not something we can achieve without equal effort from others, permission for increased investment from our regulators, and support from the Government in creating a comprehensive plan to transform our environment in the long term.”
While these calls to action are welcome, Ms Meek says it is crucial that action is taken now.
"We need to really start taking this much more seriously. The consequences to public health and having a safe and reliable source of of drinking water could be huge, especially in East Anglia where we could face, in the future, a shortage of safe and clean water.
"So we really, really need to think about taking care of our water now so that we actually have a safe source of water for the future."