The record-breaking temperatures and dry spells of 2022 may seem many weeks behind us, but despite recent rains, England’s rivers, lakes and wetlands are not fully recovered. Even in October, much of the country remained in drought [1] with reservoirs well below the levels we’d expect [2]. Without above-average rainfall to redress the balance, our rivers will start next year already under pressure.

And yet, despite low rainfall, ‘storm overflows’ have been in frequent operation [3]. These sewage system ‘safety valves’ allow water companies to release untreated wastewater into the environment during periods of ‘exceptional rainfall’ [4], to avoid sewage backing up into customers’ homes. Discharges this year, under normal and even dry conditions, are a clear sign that investment in sewage infrastructure has not kept pace with need.

The pressure on our rivers is relentless. Against this backdrop, new statutory plans to put our waters back into good condition should be a welcome thing. Yet we already have such plans, and have done since 2009. ‘River Basin Management Plans’ are intended to set out how we restore our damaged rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters, and the groundwaters beneath our feet. Nearly 5,000 waters across England are monitored against a range of factors to determine whether they are healthy. Pollution from heavy metals and pesticides, levels of excess nutrients that can harm aquatic habitats, the physical condition of rivers, the water levels and flows, and the state of wildlife itself, including fish and aquatic insects, are all assessed. For every assessment failed, the plans set out actions that need to be taken to turn things around.

The 2009 plans were supposed to preside over the recovery of a large proportion of waters by 2015. When that target was largely missed, a second round of plans covered actions to 2021. New plans will take us to 2027 and beyond; a year that was supposed to be the third and final deadline under the legislation that drives these improvements. 

With two rounds of plans under our belt, we might expect to be in a strong position. Instead, only 16% of waters are in good ecological health (one half of the assessment) and none meet chemical standards (the other part of the test). This means that none are healthy overall; a baseline of 0%.

Draft plans were consulted on over the summer, with final versions approved today. Figures shared as part of the consultation are revealing [5]. Of the near-5,000 waters that the plans cover, the objective of getting a site to good overall status by 2027 – what should have been the final target date – applies to just 204 waters, or 4%. Only 1 additional water is expected to reach good condition by 2033, a decade from now. For all other waters, revised targets have been set for various later dates, and for the vast majority, 3,651 sites, the target date to bring them into good condition is 2063.

The reason for this extremely long road to recovery is, in most cases, chemical pollution. Our waters are polluted by chemicals from landfill sites, urban runoff or agriculture, and once in the environment, there’s very little we can do to remove them. It will take until the 2060s for waters to cleanse themselves of this pollution.

It’s therefore a huge concern that under the Retained EU Law Bill currently passing through Parliament, safeguards against chemical pollution could be ripped up. The regulations that govern the ‘Registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals’, or REACH, could be lost - alongside hundreds of other laws that protect our environment. The scale of current water pollution makes it plain that we need better controls on chemicals, not fewer, to keep the most harmful products off the market and out of our waterways.

Setting aside chemicals, the picture is only a little brighter. The plans proposed targets for the ecological status of 4,679 freshwaters, estuaries and coasts. They plan to bring nearly 77% of these sites (3,595) to good ecological status by 2030 or before, the target date under Government’s Environment Act for halting the decline of species.

But delve deeper into the figures and there are some red flags. Firstly, this would still see over a thousand such waters not achieving good status, continuing to contribute to wildlife declines. Secondly, even where a target of good is set, there’s no certainty it can be achieved; ‘low confidence’ of reaching targets is noted for over two and half thousand sites. Finally, only around 50 further sites are scheduled to reach good status in the decade that follows, meaning that by 2042, when another Government target requires that species will have recovered by 10% from 2030 levels, more than a fifth of waters will not be in good enough condition to support this. The picture for our waters and their wildlife remains bleak.

As we set new plans for improving the condition of our rivers, we must recognise the failure  of previous goals. The new plans must see us taking action on issues, and in ways, that we haven’t before. This includes:

• Protecting and restoring small headwater streams, ponds and wetlands which aren’t subject to the regulations that require these plans, but are where a large proportion of the wildlife found in our rivers spends at least part of its lifecycle.
• Doing more to tackle agricultural pollution, alongside an ongoing focus on water industry pollution. As sewage pollution is slowly tackled, farming has emerged as the sector responsible for the greatest number of remaining pressures. Runoff from slurry, excess fertilisers, soil erosion and pesticide pollution are the cause of around 40% of waters failing standards. The new Environmental Land Management Scheme must encourage farmers to create and restore wetlands, and to significantly reduce pollution to protect rivers, underpinned by effective regulation, advice and enforcement.
• Taking a ‘Source to Sea’ approach. The pollution from farming or sewage ultimately ends up in the sea, so when prioritising investment we must account for the impacts not just in our rivers but at our coasts too, considering the system holistically, and looking at pressures and solutions across the catchment, from source to sea.

These plans are being approved only days after a landmark deal for nature was reached at COP15, the global biodiversity conference held in Montreal. The deal will require the UK to look again at its policies to bring them in line with the new global targets; in particular, ensuring that 30% of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas are effectively conserved and managed for nature by 2030. When it comes to the health of our rivers, national plans don’t seem to match up to international ambition.

But a fresh look - one that prioritises the above actions, and brings forward other welcome proposals contained in the plans but currently earmarked only for future delivery - may just help us rescue our rivers from the brink of collapse.