Official data show water pollution has left every surface water body in England below good chemical status. The latest six-yearly assessment by the Environment Agency found that rivers, lakes and estuaries were checked for toxic chemicals, including Pfas and microplastics, as well as standards covering wildlife, water quality and physical habitat.
Just 14.3% of England’s surface waters achieved good ecological status. The legal target for all water bodies to reach good chemical and ecological status is December 2027 under Water framework directive regulations, but the Environment Agency says England’s water bodies are not predicted to reach good chemical status until 2063.
Environment Agency assessment
The Environment Agency assessed each of England’s rivers, lakes and estuaries as part of a six-yearly evaluation of England’s water quality. The failure was driven almost entirely by mercury, Pfos and PBDEs, persistent chemicals that do not break down and can accumulate in the environment.
The result leaves England facing two separate measures of decline at once: chemical status failed across every surface water body, while ecological status reached good levels for only 14.3%. Those are not the same test, and the gap shows that pollution controls and habitat condition are both still falling short of the legal standard.
Greenpeace UK and The Wildlife Trusts
Ami McCarthy, Greenpeace UK’s head of politics, called the scale of the crisis “sobering” and said the government needed “urgent action to turn off the chemicals that are destroying our land at the source”.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said the situation was like a “foreign power maliciously poisoning every single water body in England with cancer causing chemicals” and said “politicians across the political spectrum have come together with a conspiracy of silence and inaction”. Richard Benwell, chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, warned that “there are thousands more forever chemicals on the market from cosmetics to clothing” and said government must act now to stop another wave of contamination by matching EU safeguards and making the polluting companies pay for clean up.
Water framework directive deadline
Feargal Sharkey, the water campaigner, said the Environment Agency has “failed every waterbody in the country” and has “overseen the collapse of an issue they were supposed to be policing”. Sharkey called on the environment secretary to rewrite the guidance and enforce the law as it stands.
The legal deadline remains December 2027, but the Environment Agency’s projection pushes good chemical status out to 2063. For readers living with England’s rivers, lakes and estuaries, that means the official target and the expected timetable are now miles apart, with the next benchmark still set by the 2027 regulations.
