River water quality

The quantity and quality of water is fundamental to a good quality of life for both people and wildlife. Surface and ground waters are major sources of drinking water and rivers support a wide variety of wildlife and recreational activities.

The way we assess water quality and its reporting has changed significantly. Between 1990 and 2010 we used the General Quality Assessment  (GQA) scheme to assess river water quality in terms of chemistry, biology and nutrients.

The GQA and many earlier Directives relating to environmental quality have now been replaced by the Water Framework Directive.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is European legislation which promotes a new approach to water management through River Basin Planning. The WFD looks at the water environment as a whole, integrating water quality, quantity and physical habitat with ecology. Consequently, the way we monitor water bodies has changed.

River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) have been written for 11 river basin districts across England and Wales.  They identify the current state of the water environment, set out objectives for the future and the measures that will be used to achieve them.

Four RBMPs are relevant to the South West. Most of the region is within the South West River Basin District.  North Somerset, Bristol and beyond falling in the Severn District.  The three lesser impacting river basins are Thames, Severn, and South East River Basin Districts.

We released the South West River Basin Management Plan in December 2009, which is based on water catchments and not geo-political boundaries.

The map below shows all Water Framework Management Areas within the South West.

In England and Wales there are one hundred river management catchments - areas with several, often interconnected, water bodies (rivers, lakes, ground water and coastal waters). Many of the problems facing our water environments are best understood, and tackled, at a catchment level.

There are 9 management catchments in the South West River Basin District.

Further details on each management catchment can be found by reading the River Basin Plan – or by clicking here

A river basin management catchment is made up of multiple water bodies.

A water body can be identified as either: a lake or part of a lake, stretches of river, all of or part of an estuary, an area of coastal water, or a groundwater unit.

There are 1093 water bodies in the South West River Basin District.

Of these, 938 are river water bodies, 23 are transitional water bodies, 25 are coastal water bodies, and 44 are ground water bodies.

Under WFD the status of surface water bodies (rivers, surface water transfers, canals, transitional waters (estuaries), coastal waters (out to 1 mile from low tide), lakes and SSSI ditches) is classified into:

• One of five ‘Ecological status’ classifications (High; Good; Moderate; Poor; Bad)

• One of two ‘Chemical status’ classifications (Good; Fail). Chemical status is assessed for specific chemicals.

Ground water bodies are assessed on the basis of their quality and quantity using a series of tests, and classified on a pass/fail basis.

The National Picture

Across England and Wales the actions contained within the RBMPs will:

• Revitalise and transform more than 9,500 miles of rivers in England and Wales. 

• Achieve a 4% improvement in the number of surface water bodies achieving good ecological status or potential by 2015.

• Increase the number of surface water bodies achieving good ecological status or potential from 27% now to 31% in 2015. 

• Increase the number of surface water bodies achieving good biological status from 38% now to 45% in 2015

In the South West River Basin, the actions contained within the South West RBMP will:

• Revitalize and transform more than 2,800 miles of river.

• Achieve a 9% improvement in the number of surface water bodies achieving good ecological status or potential by 2015.

• Increase the number of surface water bodies achieving good ecological status or potential from 27% now to 31% in 2015.

• Increase the number of surface water bodies achieving good biological status from 51% now to 61% in 2015 

Please see our Earth Chattering Pages, for a map showing some of the water bodies where we are looking to improve water quality.

For more information on water quality and other topics at a local level, please see the Local Profiles

• Environment Agency river water quality
• What's in your backyard - find out about water quality in rivers near you
• Water Framework Directive