The Rivers Trust network of over 63 local Trusts in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has today published its State of Our Rivers Report, which allows the English public to understand the health of their river like never before, on both a national and local scale.

The report gives one clear message: the race to climate resilience will be won or lost on rivers – and currently it is being lost.

According to the Rivers Trust, as a whole, water companies contributed towards more than half of river water bodies (55%) failing to achieve good status. The sector is also responsible for the single activity with the most widespread impact on rivers: the discharge of partially treated sewage effluent. This impacted 44% of river water bodies, and untreated sewage spills via storm overflow contributed towards 12% of river water bodies failing standards.

Mark Lloyd, CEO of The Rivers Trust, said:

“Our report makes it clearer than ever that we may be winning small battles to protect our rivers, but we are losing the war. The trend of incremental, disjointed improvements which treat vital habitats as an afterthought must change. We need more robust legislation, greater investment, and to embrace nature-based solutions to turn the tide towards river recovery.

“Cleaning up rivers won’t be easy. Their current state is the result of hundreds of years of impacts, with many still suffering the consequences of our industrial past, and the age of coal-fired power. But this does not mean we lose hope. It means we act now to save rivers for future generations.

England’s rivers include 85% of the world’s precious chalk streams, some of the most ecologically rare habitats on the planet. However, only 14% are in good ecological health, and every single one fails to meet chemical standards.

Of these failing rivers, agriculture impacts nearly two thirds (2,296 river water bodies); the water sector impacts over a half (2,032 river water bodies); and the urban and transport sector a quarter. In addition, abstraction and habitat destruction are also putting the future of rivers in jeopardy.

For the first time, this report enables the public to see localised data on the various impacts facing England’s rivers, giving them the information and evidence to take back rivers and hold polluters and government to account.

The report has been put together using The Rivers Trust’s unique combination of scientific expertise and connections with environmental stakeholders.

A comprehensive collection of data, previously only used by water scientists and government departments, has been transformed into a suite of interactive maps, bespoke infographics, and an animation, visualising the reality of river health for the whole of England.

An official launch event which takes place this morning will feature key political and environmental stakeholders.

Charles Watson, Founder and Chairman of River Action UK, who will be speaking at the launch event, said:

“State Of Our Rivers” finally provides us with a highly accessible and comprehensive documentation of the environmental status of all our river catchments. This offers a perfect potential reference point from which activists can campaign to bring river polluters to book - and for the Nation’s growing army of citizen scientists, who need to compare their results. Hopefully the next edition will realise one of the calls to action here – being able to include more invaluable data local groups are collating each day on water quality and river health.”

Click here to access The State of our Rivers report