Tag Archives: water quality

Environment Agency publishes storm overflow Event Duration Monitoring data for 2021

Storm overflows are designed to release excess storm water from the sewerage system into rivers or the sea during prolonged, heavy rainfall, to ensure they are not overwhelmed. Water companies should only do this under strictly permitted conditions. Nearly nine in ten storm overflows now have monitoring devices providing vital information about their use to

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Closed – consultation: the Government’s Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan

Closes 11:45 p.m. 12th May 2022 Defra is seeking views on new government targets to tackle the issue of sewage discharges to eliminate ecological and public healthhttps://consult.defra.gov.uk/water-industry/storm-overflows-discharge-reduction-plan/ harm arising from storm-related sewage overflows. There are around 15,000 storm overflows in England, and in 2020 there were over 400,000 sewage discharges, totalling over 3 million hours.

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Closed consultation: Environment Act 2021 Environmental Targets

Consultation closes 11:45 p.m., 11th May 2022 Defra is seeking views on proposed new environmental targets under the Environment Act 2021. The Act requires that at least one target in each of four priority areas is set in: air, water, biodiversity, and resource efficiency and waste reduction. It also requires targets to be set for

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Bathing Water Quality Statistics

Defra has published statistics summarising the statistics on English coastal and inland bathing waters in 2021 and their compliance with the 2013 Bathing Water Regulations. In summary, out of the 417 bathing waters measured in England: 413 (99%) met at least the minimum standard under the Regulations with 295 of these classified as ‘excellent’, 100 classified as

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Closed consultation: Draft River Basin Management Plans

Consultation closed 22nd April 2022 The Environment Agency is consulting on  updating the river basin management plans that fall entirely within England  along with those for the Severn and Northumbria which lie partly in Wales and Scotland. The EA  will use the information provided in producing updates to the current river basin management plans which

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The Irish Sea in the 2020s – Survey – closed

This survey is now closed.    The Irish Sea Maritime Forum, supported by the University of Liverpool, is conducting an Irish-sea wide survey to look to the future and the changing context of the Irish Sea in the 2020s. The aim is to develop a comprehensive picture of the future for the Irish Sea and

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Bathing water results for 2018

The 2018 bathing water results are out and classifications for the North West’s 30 designated bathing waters (including 4 inland) are given below. A new classification for bathing water quality was brought in 4 years ago. The new classifications are much tougher than the previous system of classification but 97.9% of bathing waters in England

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English Bathing Waters Update

New statistics released by DEFRA on the quality of bathing water around England have shown that swimming waters are the cleanest since records began. 413 beaches and lakes were tested around the country of which 98.5% of those passed standards with 93.2% of those being rated ‘excellent’ or ‘good’, an increase of over 5% since

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Updated River Basin Management Plans Published

The Environment Agency, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Natural Resources Wales have published the updated River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) following the 2014-15 consultation. These set out priorities for protection and improvement of the water environment to achieve good ecological status in accordance with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive. Links to the plans

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2015 Bathing Water Results Published

Defra has published the 2015 Bathing Waters Compliance Report. New, tougher bathing water standards are now in place with 4 categories: poor, sufficient, good and excellent. In total 624 freshwater, estuarine and coastal bathing waters (waters officially designated for bathing) were monitored across the UK with 415 in England, 102 in Wales, 84 in Scotland and 23 in

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