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Creating a better place

How the Environment Agency is conserving and enhancing biodiversity

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Environment Agency, Fisheries and biodiversity
The Environment agency is involved in restoring biodiversity to a number of different coastal and shoreline habitats

Hi, I am Tony Grayling and I’m one of the new Directors of Nature and Place, along with my colleague Jennie Donovan, at the Environment Agency. Today we are celebrating International Day of Biodiversity, and I wanted to share with …

How the Environment Agency monitors and tests bathing water quality

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Cleaner Seas, Environment Agency, Water
Many parts of the UK's coastline are used for bathing and leisure.

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, …

Working towards a cleaner Wharfe – a closer look at water quality testing at Ilkley’s bathing water

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Environment Agency, Sustainability, Water
The image shows a photograph of the River Wharfe at Cromwheel, with a view to the suspension bridge across the river.

In December 2020, a stretch of the River Wharfe at Cromwheel, Ilkley, in Yorkshire was designated a bathing water by Defra,the first section of a river in the country to become a bathing water. Yorkshire’s Bathing Waters lead Claire Campbell …

2023 Event Duration Monitoring Data Publication

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Environment Agency, Regulated industry, Water

Today (Wednesday 27 March) we have published storm overflow (Event Duration Monitoring data) for the 2023 calendar year. Event Duration Monitors record the number and duration of spills from storm overflows. To view mapped data visit Storm Overflow Spill Frequency (arcgis.com)  …

Harnessing the hidden power of restored saltmarshes for carbon capture

The EA has done major work in restoring salt marshes

A recent collaboration involving the Environment Agency, the environmental consultancy Jacobs and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is shining a light on the role of restored saltmarshes in storing blue carbon – carbon captured by the oceans and coastal ecosystems. The …

Environment Officer Joseph Holder explains how weekly beach walkovers and inspections are helping to improve Weston-super-Mare’s bathing water quality

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Cleaner Seas, Environment Agency, hydrometry, Regulated industry, Water
EA are using drones in Weston-Super Mare

  The Environment Agency conducts weekly sampling during the bathing water season, which spans from May to September. Across the UK, there are 424 designated bathing water sites, 49 of these sit within Wessex. Each one of these sites is …

Bathing water classifications and short-term pollution

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Cleaner Seas, Cleaner Seas, Environment Agency, Water
4. Environment Agency staff member in the sea taking a sample of the water.

Our blog on 1 February explained how we approach monitoring, sampling and testing of bathing waters and our approach to keeping public informed and warned when there are short term risks of pollution which bathers would rightly want to be …

Porlock Vale Streams Riverlands Project offers nature-based solutions to climate change

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Climate change, Community, Environment Agency, newsdesk, Sustainability

The National Trust, in partnership with the Environment Agency, are continuing work on the Porlock Vale Streams Riverlands (PVSR) Project on Holnicote Estate, West Somerset, and recently completed the River Aller Floodplain Reconnection scheme. The project started in 2018 under …

Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science and the Environment Agency's Citizen Science Projects

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Climate change, Environment Agency, Other areas of our work, Sustainability, Water
Women and girls make a huge contribution to our Citizen Science Projects

Yesterday (Sunday 11 February) marked the ninth annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science – a UN designated celebration of the massive contribution women make to the fields of science and technology. Today, we look at a hugely important …

National Apprenticeship Week: Natalie’s experience on the Environmental Practitioner Degree

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Climate change, Environment Agency, Invasive species, Our staff, Sustainability
EA apprentices make important contributions to many of our work areas

Natalie Parkinson is a 19-year-old student from Stoke-On-Trent. A year ago, she moved to Ely in Cambridgeshire to do a five-year Environmental Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship with the Environment Agency. It’s a full-time, paid job with a finite end but, assuming …