May 3, 2023 2 min read blog

River Action UK: We are proud to be signatories to the UK’s Charter for Rivers

Brecon Beacons, South Wales, UK - Credit to Carl Jorgensen

Our rivers are in crisis. Every single river in England is polluted beyond legal limits. Our wildlife is disappearing, and our rivers are not fit to swim in. The level of pollution entering our waterways is unacceptable, particularly from two of the biggest culprits – agriculture and sewage. In 2022 alone, raw sewage was discharged into waterways over 300,000 times and 40% of river quality target failures are caused by agriculture and land management.

I’ve never encountered a more perfect example of how screwed up our conversation about land access & responsibility is, & how leniently we view environmental crime by landowners, than this scene I encountered on the River Roding today pic.twitter.com/0yjtmZ9e9a
— Paul Powlesland (@paulpowlesland) April 27, 2023

Luxborough Lakes, London, UK: This is the impact of regulatory oversight by UK environmental protection agencies who are supposed to be looking after nature.

Extreme climate change-related weather conditions are worsening the situation, with more intense storms increasing sewage overflows and agricultural runoff and drier, hotter summers leading to an increase of life-smothering algal blooms.

Out on the River Roding yesterday I discovered what these spill statistics mean in reality. A cascade of sun bleached wet wipes & sanitary towels strewn down the bank of the Roding from Combined Sewer Overflow. When do we draw a line in the sand & say this is simply unacceptable? https://t.co/TrYl8dZl0V pic.twitter.com/z0tmf5K63g
— Paul Powlesland (@paulpowlesland) May 2, 2023

Chigwell Road Reuse and Recycling Centre, London, UK: Shocking and unacceptable release of household waste spewing into the River Roding.

We are seeing water availability decrease before our eyes, with the Environment Agency warning that water demand will exceed supply in England within 25 years. Our rivers are no longer suitable homes for wildlife: over 10% of UK freshwater species are threatened with extinction and two thirds are in decline.

The last decade and a half has also seen a systemic collapse in environmental protection with regulatory agencies defunded and regulations designed to protect rivers from pollution deliberately not being enforced.

This is a crisis – and one which the UK public wants to see resolved as a matter of urgency. The UK Government has long-standing targets for our rivers which it will not meet, and regulations that are at risk of being scrapped. We, the signatories of this Charter for Rivers, call on political leaders to commit to ambitious yet achievable actions to make our rivers healthy for nature and people by 2030.

We are proud to be signatories to the UK’s Charter for Rivers, organised by River Action UK. To read the Charter and to get involved with their work, please follow this link.

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