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.
On 18 November 2021, the Environment Agency and Ofwat announced separate major investigations into possible unauthorised discharges at thousands of wastewater treatment works.
Emma Billings provides an insight into the Environment Agency farm inspections taking place in Lincolnshire
There has been widespread media coverage of the Environment Agency’s annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies. The report – covered by the Guardian, Evening Standard, Times, BBC, Independent, Telegraph and Financial Times - …
Confusing algae for sewage is an easy mistake to make, but there are some tips to telling the difference.
Event Duration Monitoring data for 2021 shows that water and sewerage companies have a long way to go to reduce the use of storm overflows.
Our Area Environment Manager Rachael Caldwell looks at what we can all do to improve water quality over the festive season.
On Monday 18 October, the Environment Agency investigated an incident on the River Mimram when it was reported that a stretch of water had turned purple following heavy rain. They found some small patches of purple colour noticeable in places, …
Water Quality Technical Specialist, Neil Dunlop, gives us a personal view of the River Thames and the multi-billion pound programme of work to improve water quality
Laboratory scientist, Sean, takes us through the science behind bathing water monitoring.
