Most rivers, lakes and coasts ‘likely to remain in poor state’

LEGAL targets to improve the state of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters will be missed by a “considerable margin” without more action and funding, the environmental watchdog has warned.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has found the Government and the Environment Agency (EA) are off track to meet targets for 77 per cent of England’s water bodies to reach good condition by 2027.

Laws were not being effectively implemented and unless things changed, most rivers, lakes and coastal waters are “likely to remain in a poor state in the years ahead”, the OEP’s chairwoman Dame Glenys Stacey said – a situation which she labelled “deeply concerning”.

Her comments come as the watchdog publishes a report into how laws known as the water framework directive regulations to protect rivers, lakes and water courses are being put into practice.

The report from the OEP, which comes at a time when there is high public anger over the state of England’s polluted rivers and seas, warns investment is falling short by billions of pounds.

Improvement plans for river networks, known as river basin management plans, are “too generic” and do not focus on specific locations, while gaps in the tools and resources being deployed mean they are not delivering on the goals.

There is slow progress in areas such as delivering the new environmental land management scheme (Elms), which will pay farmers to manage land for public goods such as water quality, the report said.

And it warned there is a lack of governance in delivering the river basin management plans, and gaps in monitoring. The report calls for the Environment Secretary and EA to take urgent action to bring in additional, specific and time-bound measures, with sufficient and confirmed funding to achieve the improvement in water bodies.

Pollution is the biggest issue damaging the state of England’s waters, from agriculture and wastewater treatment discharges, while runoff from urban areas and roads, invasive species and structures such as weirs are also a problem.

Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey said the report did not surprise him. He said: “We have known for some time that the Government strategy in this area is simply a shambles. Former ministers have said as much. There has been a massive freefall in standards since 2009 so talk of progress is ridiculous, it is a nonsense.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We are confident that the river basin management plans are compli- ant with the current regulations and we have already committed to reforming these plans and delivering tailored long-term proposals to improve all water bodies in England.”