They say:
There used to be an annual autumn charade in which the Environment Agency and Defra ‘spun’ water quality figures for rivers and lakes into a major success story (for example “Quality of Rivers in England and Wales best for over a century”, Environment Agency, September 2009), while NGOs and more judicious journalists pulled them apart and revealed that the true picture was quite different (“Why are our rivers so dirty, and what can be done to make them cleaner?” asked The Independent, also in September 2009).
Now our obligations to clean up rivers are based on European law (the Water Framework Directive), standards are higher and there seems to be less official willingness to present a fair assessment of how rubbish many rivers really are.
Where is this year’s announcement about rivers being the best for over a century? Did we miss it? Maybe. What wasn’t missed, however, was the publication of the most recent European assessment of rivers and lakes affected by pollution shown below.
This map, from the assessment, reveals that, with the exception of the Scottish Highlands, the UK’s rivers and lakes are almost entirely classed as 30-50% (orange), 50-70% (red), 70-90% (brown), or over 90% polluted (‘affected by point source and diffuse source pressures’).
Not such a good news story to shout about this year eh? Time for everyone to fight for our rivers!
