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Water Quality and
Ecology
Our rivers and lakes are cleaner today
than at any time in living memory.
Industrial and agricultural pollution almost succeeded in killing our
rivers in
the 1960s but the success of the 1974 Control of Pollution Act and
subsequent
European legislation has been remarkable.
The Environment Agency monitors all our rivers, streams and
lakes regularly at over 7,000 locations. River
quality targets are assigned
based on biological, chemical and nutrient testing. Over 70 per cent of
the
rivers of England
and Wales
are very
good (target 1 or A) or good (target 2 or B) on a five-tier water
quality
scale.
Most people’s first concern is usually sewage but with the new European
Water
Framework Directive in place all effluent now undergoes at least two
treatments
before entering a river and, increasingly, a third to make it
completely
sterile and pure. Any bacteria that do remain are quickly killed by the
sun’s
UV rays, or eaten up in the micro-foodchain of the river so, the
further
downstream of the treatment works you are, the cleaner the water will
become.
Treatment sites are indicated on OS maps as a little cluster of four or
six
circles by rivers near towns.
Although the water quality of almost every swim
in the Wild
Swimming book is A or B there’s still much
to be done to make every river and
lake in the UK
clean enough to swim in. The World Wide Fund for Nature is taking
action to
improve water laws and policies, demonstrate better management of
rivers and wetlands,
develop sustainable land management practices and build capacity in
community
organisations to protect their own rivers. Why not get involved in
supporting
their work? www.wwf.org.uk/freshwater
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