The Environmental Audit Select Committee, of which I am a member, has this morning published our report on the state of water quality in our rivers and how we should improve it.
Regulators have made a great deal of progress since the 1990s in cleaning up and monitoring coastal waters so that they are fit for bathing. However, this progress must now be extended to rivers - including the Norfolk Broads.
Our inquiry has uncovered multiple failures in the monitoring, governance and enforcement of water quality, and these findings will need to be addressed.
This is not an issue which either the Government or the utility companies can solve alone. What we pour down our drains or flush into the sewers makes a huge difference too, so we each have a part to play in addition to improved governance and enforcement of regulation.
The Government’s new Environment Act has got the ball rolling for systematic change but we now need to implement the changes.
Report: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmenvaud/74/summa…
