The problems facing water are complex, with multiple sources of pollution affecting water quality. One of the lesser-known areas of the Environment Agency’s work is cleaning up pollution from abandoned metal mines.
Mining played a major part in Britain’s rich industrial history, but this also left thousands of abandoned mines scattered across our landscape. Almost all these mines had closed by the early 1900s but they are still releasing harmful metals including lead, cadmium and copper. This is one of the top 10 issues for water quality in England as it harms fish and river insects. Abandoned mines are the largest source of metals to British rivers and seas (click here for more information). Pollution is localised to about 1,500km of rivers - mainly in the North East, Cumbria, Yorkshire & Cornwall.
Debbie Thompson leads the Stour Field Team and has been with the Environment Agency for 15 years.
Here, Debbie explains how the team works throughout the year to help protect communities from flooding and improve the environment for people and nature.
The 14-strong field team can be seen working across this large chunk of east Kent on most days of the year.
The prolonged dry weather is affecting many rivers and lakes across much of central, south-west, south-east and eastern England.
In this blog post we explore the latest prolonged dry weather situation and how the Environment Agency has already been taking action.
Deputy Director for Water Strategy and Partnerships, Richard Thompson, talks about how the importance of River Basin Management Planning as a tool for driving forward the changes needed for a prosperous water environment.
Our Area Environment Manager Rachael Caldwell looks at what we can all do to improve water quality over the festive season.
On today’s blog Terry takes you through a day in the life of a lock keeper on the River Medway, the ups and downs of the job and the rise in littering over the past year.
Our Senior Ecologist in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire describes how we look at animals and plants in rivers and lakes to try to fix the problems they face.
The social benefits of the natural environment and green space are well understood and researched, but what about the benefits of blue space?
Laboratory scientist, Sean, takes us through the science behind bathing water monitoring.
