New data to drive action to improve England's rivers and lakes - Environment Agency

EA publishes latest data, providing detail on the health of England's rivers, lakes, estuaries and groundwater.

The Environment Agency has today (6 August) published the latest Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (WFDR) classifications, providing information to water companies, farmers and stakeholders to see clearly where the water environment is performing well and where further action is needed.

Today’s data shows that 14.3% of England’s surface waters achieved good ecological status, meeting the standards set out under the Water Framework Directive Regulations (WFDR), retained EU legislation which assesses the health of Europe’s rivers, lakes, estuaries and groundwater. All 4,658 surface water bodies were assessed against a range of standards covering wildlife, water quality and physical habitat.

In recent years the Environment Agency has increased its workforce, leading to record numbers of inspections, better data and stronger powers, supporting more investment and better regulation of rivers, lakes and coastal waters.

While the figure reported in 2019 was 16.3%, the two datasets are not directly comparable because this time around, the EA has updated analytical methods, using a wider set of monitoring data and focusing on places it suspected it would find problems. This resulted in the overall figure of 14.3%. This updated approach coupled with the classification system’s “one-out, all-out” rule where a single failing element can cause an entire water body to fail overall status, means some water bodies now show a lower status than in 2019, even where there isn’t necessarily a genuine decline in water quality.