The South East Rivers Trust (SERT) recently completed a chemical pollution survey across three local rivers to understand what harmful substances are polluting our waterways. The project, funded by the Environment Agency (EA) and carried out in partnership with Imperial College London, used special devices called passive chemical samplers to detect various chemicals in the water.
Where did we test?
We focused on three tributaries in our river catchments:
At each tributary, we placed the sampling devices at five different locations along its course. The devices were positioned to capture data from both urban and rural areas. These devices stayed in the water for two weeks before being retrieved and sent to a lab for analysis.
What did we find?
We tested for the presence of 35 different chemicals, including antibiotics, prescription medications, recreational drugs, pesticides, and herbicides. Shockingly, we found about 62% of the 35 chemicals we tested for in all three rivers. Some of the most concerning chemicals detected include:
Clarithromycin (an antibiotic)
Imidacloprid (a neonicotinoid pesticide)
Fipronil (used in flea and tick treatments)
Why does this matter?
The presence of these chemicals in our rivers is a serious issue. Antibiotics in the water can lead to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which is a growing public health concern. Pesticides like neonicotinoids are particularly harmful to aquatic invertebrates such as dragonflies, snails and shrimps, which are crucial to the health of the entire river ecosystem.
The River Blackwater in the River Loddon Catchment.
What can be done?
To tackle this pollution, we need upgraded sewage treatment systems and improved agricultural land management practices. However, there are also nature-based solutions that can help, such as creating new wetlands. The South East Rivers Trust recently delivered a nature-based solution with the Chamber Mead wetland project. This project cleans 250 million litres of water through natural systems, effectively combating pollution. Wetlands play a crucial role in keeping our water clean by filtering out sediments, chemicals, and other pollutants. They also help remove excess nutrients that often come from farms and construction sites, locking up pollutants in their sediments, soils and vegetation.
How you can help
Protecting our rivers requires everyone’s effort. By supporting initiatives like our Chamber Mead wetlands, volunteering at local events and donating to help fund vital restoration projects, we can all contribute to cleaner, healthier rivers. Find out more about how you can help your local river: https://www.southeastriverstrust.org/take-action/
We’re calling on you to join the #VoteforRivers campaign run by the Rivers Trust in the lead-up to the General Election on Thursday 4th July.
This is your chance to use the power we have as voters to advocate for nature restoration and to take this vital opportunity to speak up for healthy rivers.
We’ve set out asks under five headings, whether you plan to seek answers from candidates who come knocking on the door, question them at local hustings or want to write to them.
You can find the candidates running in your area using The Electoral Commissionand download the letter to write to them, or have the asks handy when meeting candidates in person.
We want you to ask the new Government to:
1. Prioritise nature recovery – make nature-based solutions like trees and wetlands to improve the environment and tackle climate change as first choice, rather than relying on chemicals and concrete.
For example, we at the South East Rivers Trust have just completed Chamber Mead wetlands in Ewell, Surrey, which diverts road runoff away from the River Hogsmill. Plants being established there will also bring huge biodiversity benefits to the Hogsmill Local Nature Reserve.
We are working on restoring water voles, eels and trout via our WET Hogsmill project, we have restored a section of the River Blackwater in Hampshire and the Wandle in Morden Hall Park with woody debris and by adding gravel.
2. Improve our understanding of rivers – support better data and evidence to improve regulatory monitoring and recognise the value of citizen science alongside it.
Through our work engaging the public and encouraging them to take part in citizen science, we collect data on the health of our rivers. Examples include training volunteers to:
Discover how much misconnected plumbing is in our rivers through our Outfall Safari work
Carry out riverfly monitoring to judge the health of rivers and whether there has been pollution, by finding invertebrates
3. Support education and engagement about rivers – No one will protect what they don’t know about or understand – and what they have not experienced. So we need the Government to support education about the environment and rivers at all levels.
The South East Rivers Trust has an extensive education programme
The South East Rivers Trust has programmes supporting education of primary school children and community groups across London catchments and the River Mole.
Our events also demonstrate the value of our work through walks and talks across a wide range of topics and we take part in awareness campaigns such as London Rivers Week.
4. Make polluters pay – drive strong enforcement of those who pollute to turn the tide on the abuse of our rivers.
We have recently supported a campaign to clear Hoad’s Wood in Ashford of fly-tipping. After a petition, the Government has now issued a clean-up edict which will cost the taxpayer huge sums. Nobody has yet been traced to pay for the clean-up.
5. Manage land with water in mind – empower collaborative working that gets everyone involved in restoring our rivers.
Leaky wooden dams are a nature-based solution used by SERT on the River Beult among other places
At the South East Rivers Trust we lead several catchment partnerships across 12 river catchments. These work collaboratively with many other organisations and individuals to bring rivers back to life. They need investment and funding to do so.
Our Holistic Water for Horticulture project also works with food growers in Kent and the South East to ensure water efficiency and resilience in the process of getting food from farm to fork.
This is part of the work of our Water and Land Stewardship team, which has worked closely with farmers on the River Beult in Kent on nature-based solutions to retain water and enhance biodiversity, for the benefit of wildlife and people. We are involved in national pilots for Environmental Land Management Schemes, funded by Government, working with farms to manage land in sustainable ways.
For example, we are working with farmers and landowners and other environment NGOs on the River Darent catchment to implement a radical, large-scale approach to delivering climate benefits – starting with rivers.
Here are some questions you can ask your candidates
How will you and your party tackle all types of pollution in our rivers? Sewage is not the only issue; farming and road runoff pollution are also devastating our rivers.
Will your party boost funding for regulators and strengthen enforcement so polluters are made to pay for their pollution?
How will your party work with nature to improve river health and tackle climate change?
How will your party open up rivers and blue spaces in our towns and cities for health and wellbeing?
How will your party support farmers and businesses manage their land sustainably for water?
No matter where you live across our 12 catchments, there is a river near you. Find our river using our map, using your postcode. There a hundreds of candidates standing for constituencies from Berkshire through Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and south London who want your vote – so press them on the hot topics!
If you are writing to your candidates, you could use or adapt the Rivers Trust’s template, by copying and pasting the information below or adding in your own asks on rivers. Don’t forget you can source candidate details via The Electoral Commission.
Dear [Candidate name],
I will be voting for rivers in the General Election on 4th July 2024 and, as a local resident and voter, need to know how you intend to stand up for our waterways.
The Rivers Trust’s State of Our Rivers Report 2024 lays bare the dire health of our waterways, which are facing devastating levels of pollution, swinging between extremes of flood and drought, and experiencing shocking drops in biodiversity:
0% of stretches of river in England are in good or high overall health.
This is not breaking news – the issues faced by our rivers have been hitting the headlines for years and causing widespread public outcry. Yet not enough is being done to restore or protect our waterways.
Healthy rivers should be a priority for the next Government. From re-wiggling rivers, restoring floodplains, and greening our urban spaces, restoring our rivers means securing community resilience, a future for wildlife, and action for climate.
This is why I am supporting The Rivers Trust’s asks for political candidates and parties:
Prioritise nature recovery – make nature-based solutions like trees and wetlands to improve the environment and tackle climate change first choice, rather than relying on chemicals and concrete.
Improve our understanding of rivers – support better data and evidence to improve regulatory monitoring and recognise the value of citizen science alongside it.
Support education about rivers – no one will understand or care about what they haven’t experienced. Outdoor learning is key to nurturing a lifelong love of rivers.
Make polluters pay – drive strong enforcement of those who pollute to turn the tide on the abuse of our rivers.
Manage land with water in mind – empower collaborative working that gets everyone involved in restoring our rivers.
Please let me know what actions you and your party intend to take to deliver the asks above and restore the health of our waterways.
I look forward to hearing from you and, if possible, please copy info@theriverstrust.org in your reply.
Pollution in the Hogsmill River, by Toby Hull of the South East Rivers Trust
Brace yourselves: 0% of England’s rivers are in good overall health. A truly shocking fact for a habitat that’s so vital to all of us.
This and other alarming statistics come from the Rivers Trust’s 2024 State Of Our Rivers Report, which has been launched today (Monday 26th February).
Combining data, insightful maps, and illuminating case studies, the report dives into the data and evidence, offering us an insight into just how our rivers in the UK and Ireland are doing.
The data is clear:
No single stretch of river in England is in good overall health
Just 15% of English river stretches reach good ecological health standards
Toxic chemicals that remain in our ecosystems for decades pollute every stretch of English rivers
Healthy rivers can be a powerful ally in mitigating the effects of climate change, being able to protect communities from flood and drought, the report emphasises. They support a wealth of biodiversity. They also benefit our physical and mental well-being and are a fantastic way for us to reconnect with nature.
However, these vital ecosystems are plagued by sewage, chemical, nutrient and plastic pollution. They have been heavily modified, so they don’t function as naturally as they should.
All this means that our aquatic wildlife, from plants to fish, is having to work harder to survive – and that rivers can be unpleasant places to visit or to use for recreation.
So, what can you do? Here’s five actions you can take
1 Write to your MP to demand meaningful action
Demand better for your river
If you are shocked by the state of our rivers, write to your MP to demand change.
Tell them that restoring rivers is climate action, supports wildlife and protects communities.
The report allows you to search for your local stretch of river and use its stats and maps on sewage, barriers in rivers and chemicals to arm yourself with facts before contacting your MP.
You can contact your MP via the Rivers Trust’s portal – and add your own words to the template.
Ask your elected representative what they are doing about river health. We want you to demand better Government action for our rivers, through better water quality monitoring, investment in infrastructure for sewage treatment and better funding for Nature-based Solutions.
To help you when you write, we have compiled a State Of Our Rivers Catchment Crib Sheet with a basic comparison of Water Framework Directive ratings for our catchments between 2019 and 2022.
We would also encourage you to speak up for some of our recent work (below) and show how it is making a real difference to rivers.
For example:
Volunteers plant up berms at Morden Hall Park in September 2023
Nature-based solutions such as leaky woody dams are holding water longer in the landscape of the Beult area of the River Medway. This increases biodiversity and helps nature thrive, as well as slows water flow into the main river, where it is abstracted for human use. As those who went on our Nature-based Safari concluded: We need to make more of this happen on a wider scale.
Deflectors and planted berms extending parts of the bank have re-wiggled a straight section of the River Wandle in Morden Hall Park (pictured). This works wonders for wildlife, varying the flow of the water and giving fish and invertebrates places of refuge and areas to breed.
New wetlands constructed at Chamber Mead have brought fresh hope to the Hogsmill. They divert pollution which will help protect 5km of precious chalk stream.
Our Holistic Water for Horticulture project works with growers towards a 2030 target that 50% of the UK’s fresh food is sourced from areas with sustainable water management. The south east is an area already classed as water-stressed and this is an issue that affects our food security.
We’re also working to put rivers at the heart of landowner thinking as part of the Darent Landscape Recovery Project, a Government-funded pilot.
2 Shout out for your local river on social media
Join the fight for healthy rivers
What’s your local stretch of river? How do you use it and how does it affect your mood? Perhaps you visit it for pleasure with your dog on a daily walk, or use it for recreation such as rowing, canoeing or swimming.
However you care about your local river and interact with it, we want you to tell us online. Once you have found out about the condition of your local river via the State of Our Rivers report, make a noise about it!
Report what you see – for good or bad – whether that’s young fish thriving and wildlife flourishing, or plastic pollution and sewage outfall spills.
Use the hashtag #StateofOurRivers and find us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Why not tag the elected representative you have emailed, too? You can also tag @TheRiversTrust on all channels.
3 Sign up to be an Everyday River Hero
Whether you are a seasoned, long-term river user or you’ve been caught up in the increasing wave of publicity around sewage and other river issues, we want you to become an Everyday River Hero.
It might be hard to believe given our wet winter, but the south east of England actually receives less annual rainfall than the south of France. We face a real threat of not being able to meet supply by 2050, because of a growing population and climate change.
Launched in January, our 10-week email programme will tell you why rivers are essential for our daily lives and how to care for and protect wildlife, when you are exploring the great outdoors or at home. How – and how much – water you use in your bathroom and kitchen, as well as your garden can be as vital for rivers and the wildlife that thrives in them as the flea treatments you use on your dogs.
We always get a huge thrill when we can involve volunteers directly in work to help rivers thrive. There is nothing like enabling communities to take action for the stretch of water they love.
Help install gravel on the River Blackwater in Aldershot. Join us to improve this stretch of the River Loddon for fish and invertebrates on any of four days, from March 12th to 15th.
Sign up for Outfall Safari training on the Beverley Brook, on 20th. Join us and the Zoological Society of London to learn to spot and report misconnected plumbing that is polluting rivers. The results will help trace appliances such as washing machines that have been connected to the wrong pipes when they were installed.
To book, visit our events page – and bookmark it for subsequent volunteering opportunities during 2024.
5 Book our education sessions for your school or youth group
A school education session
Educating our youngest citizens is a core part of our work on the Beverley Brook, Hogsmill and Wandle rivers, where we hold sessions for Key Stage 1 and 2, in schools and along rivers. Our sessions are available for youth groups, too, so inspire them to cherish their local waterway by booking a session.
We also run school sessions on the River Mole, under the Our River Our Water programme.
If you are a parent or teacher, read our education page for full details and encourage your school community to get in touch!
As one teacher said about our curriculum linked sessions: “They fit exactly with what we have been learning and the children enjoyed all the activities.”
River lovers are being urged to sign an open letter calling on all political parties to adopt a five-point plan for wildlife in their manifestos for the next General Election, likely to take place in 2024.
The Rivers Trust movement has joined an 80-strong coalition of partners to support the Nature 2030 Campaign. It is led by the Wildlife and Countryside Link and supported by celebrities including television personalities Steve Backshall and Chris Packham.
Research shows that the UK has become one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with more than one in seven native wildlife species facing extinction.
The campaign outlines that in 2022 sewage was discharged for more than 2.4 million hours across England, Scotland and Wales, accounting for more than 389,000 sewage spills. Commitments were set in 2021 to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, but there’s a long way to go to meet these targets. With only seven years to go, just 3% of land and 4% of sea have this protection. We need stronger environmental leadership and the Nature 2030 campaign demands it.
Thousands of people have already signed the letter, which was launched at Westminster in July.
As one of the largest regional rivers trusts, the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) is urging supporters to back the campaign, which has five key asks for political parties:
Double the wildlife-friendly farming budget to £6bn for ambitious farm improvements and large-scale nature restoration
Make polluters pay for nature restoration by requiring big businesses to deliver environmental improvement plans and funding to counter damage
Create green jobs on a large scale, including setting up a National Nature Service delivering wide-scale habitat restoration
Increase protection and funding for wildlife sites by creating a Public Nature Estate to fulfil the promise to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature by 2030
Set up a new law guaranteeing a right to a healthy environment, establishing a human right to clean air and water plus access to nature, plus building nature into decision making
Hester Liakos, co-CEO of SERT, said: “Rivers are at the heart of the battle to restore nature. Our work with local communities, farmers and landowners demonstrates the positive difference that nature based solutions and natural flood management can make in improving the health and biodiversity of rivers. But to make this difference on the scale that nature truly needs requires more funding and greater commitment and leadership from Government – so we’re asking our supporters to sign this open letter to demand action from all political leaders.”
Tessa Wardley, Director of Communications and Advocacy at the Rivers Trust, said: “The public are rightfully outraged by the state of our rivers and we need political parties to make firm commitments towards their recovery, which are then backed up by action. Delivering the Nature 2030 policies would significantly improve the health of our rivers, which are absolutely core to tackling the biodiversity, climate and wellbeing crises we face as a nation and planet.”
Every five years, water companies in England are required to produce a Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), which outlines how they intend to meet the expected water demands not just in the next five years but over the next 50 in their respective service areas.
These plans take into account increasing population, climate change and growing risks of drought – while also protecting and enhancing the local environment.
An important part of the WRMP plans is customer feedback on topics which concern them most. They are currently in draft form and out for public consultation.
We love rivers. So it couldn’t be more perfect that our 20th Anniversary falls on Valentine’s Day.
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