Anger as annual river and sea testing to now take place every six years

The most recent figures show that nationally only 14% of English rivers met good ecological status and no English river met good chemical status. In Lewes District not a single local river meets either standard.

The Environment Agency is legally obliged to include data for every water body in England which will be reviewed, updated and published every six years. The most recent full set of data was published in 2019, ahead of the 2021 river basin management plans, and the next full data set will be published in 2025.

A Defra spokesperson said: "It is completely untrue to suggest that the water body data required to be published has been delayed. The Environment Agency have just this month published another set of sampling results. This month’s published sampling was focussed at water bodies with suspected problems so that the government and the EA can get the evidence for investment where it is most needed. We are delivering our Plan for Water, with tighter regulation, tougher enforcement and more investment to improve water bodies across the country.”

Water quality assessments by the Environment Agency are required under the Water Framework Directive adopted by the government. This should have meant that all waterways in England reached ‘good’ status by 2015. The government extended the deadline to achieve ‘good’ status to 2027, but it has been known for some time that England’s rivers would miss even the government’s extended target date.

Lewes District Green Party argue that this has failed to keep up with the needs of new housing developments, and have called for an immediate reinstatement of yearly testing.

Green Party Councillor and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Emily O’Brien said: “We are doing our bit at Lewes District Council where we have now passed four water quality motions and begun a ground breaking project for river restoration. But there is only so much we can achieve when the government and the privatised water companies are failing catastrophically at their end. We are calling for an immediate reinstatement of proper testing. But that’s only part of the solution. The Green Party believes our privatised water companies must be put back into public hands.”