- The Guardian,
- Friday September 22 2000
Rivers and canals in England and Wales are probably cleaner than they have been since the industrial revolution, with 92% classed as good enough to support fish life, according to the Environment Agency.
This 1999 figure is a big improvement on 1990, the year after water privatisation, when 85% of the 25,000 miles of rivers and canals were classified in the top two categories of "good" or "fair".
If Scotland and Northern Ireland are included the figure is 95% in 1999, compared with 92% in 1990.
Since privatisation, water companies have been forced by EU legislation to invest heavily in sewage treatment plants and other clean-up measures which have resulted in higher water bills but better water quality. Hundreds of miles of rivers now have fish life where there was none nine years ago.
Rivers in the "poor" and "bad" classifications have probably been devoid of almost all life for decades, many of them in the old industrial heartlands of Britain, where chemicals used to be indiscriminately poured into the nearest stream.
In 1990, 2.3% of all rivers were still in the "bad" category - meaning about 575 miles of rivers had no life - but last year this figure had gone down to 0.6%, around 150 miles.
The biggest improvements have been in industrial areas of the midlands and northern England, where around half the rivers and canals have improved by one grade or more. The net improvement, taking into account the fact that some rivers have deteriorated over the same period, is equivalent to upgrading 40% of the total river and canal length in the midlands and north.
The quality of rivers is one of the government's 15 indicators of "quality of life" in Britain, which it pledged to improve. Water companies are due to spend another £7bn over the next five years making further improvements.
The environment minister, Michael Meacher, said: "Clean rivers are not only a vital source of water for drinking and industry, they also support a wide variety of wildlife and are enjoyed by millions for recreation.
"The billions being invested in cleaning up our rivers are really bearing fruit. These are the best ever water quality results, and they reflect the government's commitment to delivering a cleaner, better quality environment for everyone to enjoy."
The south west of England and Wales have the highest proportion of high quality rivers, with respectively 97% and 98% of river and canal length classified as good or fair.
The Environment Agency chairman, Sir John Harman, said: "The survey shows real improvements in the quality of many urban and semi-urban rivers, creating real amenity for people in areas where river environments have in the past been poor, or in some cases, lifeless, polluted eyesores.
"However, we cannot be complacent. Around 8% of rivers in England and Wales are still graded poor or bad. Planned investment over the next five years should tackle many of these problems."
• The agency has a website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk, where users can enter a postcode to discover the quality of rivers in their given locality.
