Angling Trust data reveals another year of river pollution

Expert calls for stronger regulatory oversight, mandatory investment in infrastructure, and more funds for Ofwat and the EA to monitor and prosecute

The Environment Agency reports that only 14% of rivers in England currently meet ‘good ecological status’ as defined by the Water Framework Directive, and The Angling Trust’s second Annual Report from its Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) — the nation’s largest regular citizen science water pollution initiative — suggests the UK is falling further behind. 

Of nearly 4,000 samples analysed from July 2023 to July 2024:

• 45% exceeded nitrate levels of concern (≥5 ppm)
• 34% breached the threshold for phosphate pollution (≥0.306 ppm), with both chemicals contributing to damaging eutrophication

In some catchments, the pollution was even more entrenched. In the Medway catchment,  14 sites were monitored at least eight times per year, and each one breached the upper limit for good ecological status. Of 22 sites in the Warwickshire Avon catchment, 86% exceeded safe levels.

Launched in May 2022 as part of the Angling Trust’s Anglers Against Pollution Campaign, the WQMN has a network of 775 trained volunteers from more than 300 angling clubs, who together have submitted nearly 10,000 water samples across England and Wales. The latest report analyses data collected between July 2023 and July 2024.

Jamie Cook, CEO, Angling Trust & Fish Legal said the freshwater habitats are “in crisis”. He said, “Across the country, anglers are using their citizen science data to build effective campaigns to protect rivers — pressuring politicians, challenging polluters, and shaping conversations with regulators, farmers, and water companies. This is grassroots citizen science delivering national conservation impact.”

“…the fact that 86% of rivers fail to meet this baseline highlights systemic failures in regulation, enforcement, and investment in water quality.”

Frederic Coulon, Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology at Cranfield University said the figures were not surprising but remained deeply alarming. “The decline in river health has been well-documented for years, with pressures from agricultural runoff, sewage discharges, urban pollution, and habitat destruction.

“The Water Framework Directive (WFD) standards are also notoriously stringent, and even "good" status allows for some degradation. However, the fact that 86% of rivers fail to meet this baseline highlights systemic failures in regulation, enforcement, and investment in water quality.”

Professor Coulon added that the high nitrate and phosphate levels “indicate chronic nutrient loading, driving eutrophication, which triggers algal blooms, depletes oxygen, and harms fish and invertebrates. The result is a loss of biodiversity, increased water treatment costs, as well as a decrease in the overall health of river ecosystems.” 

Sean Comber, Associate Professor, Plymouth University was also unsurprised by the low levels of compliance, but said that for public health, nitrate and phospate levels are less of an issue than bacteria.

“We need to be more concerned with the ecology than the chemistry, where standards may be overly conservative.” Comber added that expectations need to be set for our ecology as well as cost-effective measures to meet these, by reducing chemical inputs from key sources.

Professor Coulon said there is a need for stronger regulatory oversight and mandatory investment in infrastructure, particularly to reduce storm overflow events and improve wastewater treatment. In addition, nutrient management plans need to be promoted and buffer zones and wetlands expanded to intercept runoff.

Overall, he urged more joined-up catchment-based planning involving local authorities, NGOs, and landowners, as well as greater funding for Ofwat and the Environment Agency in order to monitor and prosecute, believing that many spills go unrecorded due to inadequate monitoring.