Only one in seven English waters in good ecological condition, assessment shows

England's rivers, lakes and coastal waters remain in a challenging state with only around one in seven classed as being in good ecological condition, according to the first comprehensive assessment of their health in six years.

And no single waterway passed a separate test by the regulator for chemical pollution.

The Environment Agency (EA) said this is because legacy substances, such as heavy metals, and so-called 'forever chemicals', are building up.

Its chair acknowledged the country's waterways were "below standards" but said it was increasing enforcement action to tackle other issues like sewage spills.

Data from the EA shows that while 15% of rivers are classed as good, fewer than 7% of lakes reached that level.

The biggest individual problem is phosphate - a nutrient from sewage and farm runoff - with around half of rivers still exceeding safe levels.

Despite a record £22bn earmarked for water company environmental improvements by 2030, the overall picture has changed little since 2019.

The government is on course to miss its legally binding target of restoring 77% of England's waters to good ecological status by 2027 - a goal the environmental watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection, has warned will be missed by a "considerable margin".

It's now investigating both the government and the Environment Agency over possible rule breaches.

Environment Secretary Angela Eagle said the figures "underline the need for wholesale change across the water sector".

She pointed to new laws the government has introduced to hold water companies to account and record investment. "We will drive forward a system that puts the public interest first," she said.

Water UK, which represents the water companies, said it was spending record amounts of money on improving the country's waterways.

"Water companies are investing £22bn in environmental improvements by 2030. This will help to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas."

Other types of pollution affecting England's water bodies include petrol, garden pesticides and contaminated water running off roads picking up microplastics and chemicals.

The regulator said some chemicals are challenging to tackle as they do not easily break down, and begin to accumulate.

But Prof Penny Johnes, a leading water quality scientist at the University of Bristol, told the BBC it was also a "failure to regulate effectively" the new chemicals entering rivers.

She pointed to 'forever chemicals' known as PFAS and antibiotics, many of which are not routinely monitored.

There are currently 23 enforcement notices against water companies requiring them to lower the levels of PFAS to reduce the danger to human health.

Water UK has called for PFAS use to be banned to limit their build-up and reduce water treatment costs, but the chemicals are currently used in thousands of products, from school uniforms to medical devices.

The Environment Agency stressed that this year's data could not be directly compared with 2019 because it had changed its methods.

In particular, it said the steep fall in the number of lakes ranked as good - down about half from 2019 - largely reflected a change in how its experts now assess them, rather than a genuine decline in their condition.

Its chair, Alan Lovell, has acknowledged that too many water bodies were "still not achieving the standards we want to see", adding that the agency was "transforming our enforcement work" with its largest ever workforce.

But Prof Johnes said the true picture was almost certainly worse than the classifications suggested.

The scheme was "not fit for purpose", she said, measuring too few pollutants too infrequently, and missing nitrogen and other substances scientists have long understood to be driving rivers' decline.

The findings come as much of England sits in official drought, with rivers running low and more than 20 million people facing hosepipe bans.

Lower flows can concentrate the very pollution the new data is designed to track, leaving fish and other aquatic life exposed to more dangerous levels.

Climate change is expected to bring drier and hotter summers which could further exacerbate this issue.

Asked directly whether England's waters were healthier than six or seven years ago, Prof Johnes said: "No, definitely not."

Much of the debate about the state of England's waters has centred on water companies and the sewage they release into rivers.

But campaigners and scientists also point to agriculture as an equally large source of pollution - one that attracts far less public attention.

Erica Popplewell, of the campaign group River Action, said some farming, particularly intensive poultry units - vast sheds housing hundreds of thousands of birds - were a growing threat to rivers such as the Wye and Severn.

"There's a lot of poo that comes out of the chickens," she said. "If it goes straight into a river, it causes eutrophication. The whole ecology of the river is damaged, and the river is dying." She called on the government to tackle sewage and farming "with the same urgency".

The National Farmers' Union of England and Wales urged the government and the Environment Agency to prioritise working with farmers with targeted investment.

"These results demonstrate the need for continued action from every sector across the water supply chain, and farming is no exception, but the underlying indicators do show that the health of many waterways in England is encouraging, which is a positive foundation to build on," NFU deputy president Paul Tomkins said in a statement.