Last week the Environment Agency released a list of the ten most improved rivers in England and Wales. Conservationists have criticised the report saying it presents a rosy view of river health and ignores the many waterways struggling with pollution, over abstraction and other threats.

River wildlife experts at the RSPB, WWF, the Angling Trust and the Salmon and Trout Association – all partners in the Our Rivers Campaign – have responded with a list of ten rivers where not enough is being done to tackle these environmental pressures.

The conservationists' list paints a different picture – one in which salmon, trout, watervoles and other river wildlife are under threat. Currently two thirds of rivers in England and Wales are failing European targets for water quality. The NGOs say too little is being done to address this.

The only river to appear on both lists is the Thames. Our Rivers say that despite the Environment Agency hailing the return of salmon to the river, a University of Exeter report revealed last week that attempts to create a self sustaining salmon population in the Thames have failed. The report claims that salmon found in the Thames were more likely to be strays from other rivers.

Water White Paper must address over-abstraction

Jack Clarke, Our Rivers campaigner, said:

“It is right to celebrate the improvements that our rivers have seen in recent decades – but we cannot ignore the continuing threats our native river wildlife faces.

“Most of the ten rivers highlighted in the Environment Agency’s report last week are doing well – but it is a different story for many hundreds of other rivers crossing England and Wales.

“The stories we hear from people living near these rivers are all too familiar – salmon and trout numbers at a fraction of their former levels, sewage being released directly into the waterway, riverbeds drying up in the summer due to unsustainable abstraction. The ten rivers we have chosen illustrate these problems, but they are only examples of a much wider issue.

“We are failing European targets for river health in a big way – and no amount of glossy PR from the Environment Agency is going to change that. Instead we need to see more ambition in their plans to restore rivers and we need reassurances that the Government’s upcoming Water White Paper will tackle the serious problem of over abstraction which is threatening river wildlife.”

Rivers highlighted in the list include the River Rea in Birmingham, which suffers from urban diffuse pollution from the city and with sections are designated by the Environment Agency as in the worst category under the Water Framework Directive, the River Trent from Stoke on Trent to the confluence of the River Tame is designated “Poor” for all fish due to urban diffuse pollution from Stoke resulting in ammonia and phosphate levels in the water which have been found to be at unacceptable levels and the River Kennet.

The River Kennet is a chalk stream, the longest tributary of the Thames, currently at a very low level due to low rainfall and high levels of abstraction. Local group Action for the River Kennet was set up 20 years ago to campaign for a reduction in abstraction on this river. The Our Rivers campaign says that despite their efforts, and agreement from both the Environment Agency and Thames Water that a reduced licence is needed, nothing has yet been done. Earlier this year the EA renewed Thames Water's abstraction licence despite what Our Rivers describe as “clear and critical issues of over abstraction on this river.”