Photo credit: Andrew Marshall/Go Wild Landscapes
Vote for healthy rivers
End river pollution and water scarcity
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To end river pollution and unsustainable water use, we’re calling on all political parties to enforce the law against polluters, half nutrient pollution by 2030 and deliver stronger protection for chalk streams.
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The state of our rivers is a national disgrace. The UK is ranked as one of the worst countries in Europe for water quality, with pollution beyond legal limits caused by a toxic cocktail of sewage and agricultural pollution. Currently, 40% of waters fail quality targets due to pollution from agriculture and land management and in 2022 alone, raw sewage was discharged into waterways over 300,000 times.
Our rivers are no longer suitable homes for wildlife, they are not fit for people to swim in, and thanks to climate change and growing demand, we are seeing water availability decrease before our eyes. This is a crisis – and one which the public wants to see urgently resolved.
Vote for healthy rivers - Matthew Stanton, Conservation Strategy Director
What are we doing?
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Chalk streams are one of the world's rarest habitats with only around 250 left and 80% of those in southern England, but they are under growing threat of having water abstracted and sewage pumped in. Last year, BBOWT joined a Wildlife Trusts campaign calling on the Government to create new bespoke legal protections for these habitats.
Aquatic plants in an English chalk stream. Picture: Linda Pitkin/2020Vision
Save our chalk streams
We are campaigning for new protections for all chalk streams to make polluters pay, hold water companies to account and make sure we can rapidly repair our wonderful chalk streams.
What you can do
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Ask your candidates in local and national elections what their parties are doing to address The Wildlife Trusts' priorities and what they will do locally if elected.
If you are a candidate in local or national elections, contact us to find out how you can work with us on these five priorities.
