Posts about our work to improve the water environment
England’s sewerage system has thousands of miles of combined sewers. This means that rainwater and wastewater from toilets, bathrooms and kitchens all go into the same pipe to sewage treatment works. During periods of rainfall and/or snowmelt, the capacity of …
There are more than 450 designated bathing waters across England. The Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring, improving, and maintaining water quality at all designated bathing waters. Importantly, designation also means that information is provided to the public to help …
My name is Lucy, and I am a Field Monitoring Officer in the National Monitoring Field Team. My role involves collecting water samples from bathing waters and rivers. I take several types of samples but today I am going to …
My name is Jason Doe and I’m a freshwater ecologist in the Environment Agency. I have been surveying algae in the River Wye for several years and find the interactions between aquatic life and its environment fascinating. Plants and invertebrates …
We continue to work on our largest ever criminal investigation, to date, into potential breaches of environmental permit conditions by all water and sewerage companies discharging into English waters. The extent of potential non-compliance involves more than 2,000 wastewater treatment …
My name is Lydia Ashworth and I have been a Citizen Science Coordinator for the Environment Agency in the West Midlands since July 2023. In this blog, you can find out about the Environment Agency’s ‘Supporting Citizen Science Project’ and …
Have you ever been at the coast and noticed a frothy foam at the water’s edge? From April to August, it’s fairly common to see these discoloured, sometimes creamy-looking and bad smelling foamy patches in the sea. You might think …
Today (15 May) marks the start of this year’s bathing water season. Between now and the end of September, millions of people will head to bathing waters to relax and swim. Following Defra’s recent announcement of 27 new bathing waters, …
The Environment Agency (EA) have funded a project to engage and work with farmers in the Upper Roding Catchment. We’ve worked in collaboration with the project lead, environmental charity Thames21, and the Roding, Beam and Ingrebourne (RBI) Catchment Partnership to …
The Environment Agency (EA) is part of a new research project that will monitor saltmarshes across the UK. Saltmarsh plays a significant role in mitigating climate change by absorbing and storing greenhouse gasses in their plants and sediments. As well …
