Our Derbyshire Dales were created by rivers and streams eroding the limestone landscape over millennia. These waterways are places of wildness and natural beauty – tranquil, green havens for us all to enjoy. Yet all is not well in what should be the most protected waters in a national park.
What are the issues and what can we all do to help care for these precious places?
You may have seen the recent press reports about University of York research which concludes that Tideswell Brook is the second most polluted stream in their study of pharmaceutical pollution in rivers in the UK (second only to an urban river in Glasgow). Pharmaceutical pollution arises when the medicines and drugs we all take (or from our pets and livestock) pass through our bodies or are disposed of incorrectly, and end up in our local streams.
You can read the full research article here.
This is really alarming – but the issues facing our local rivers are even more complex. What are the problems with our water quality and what can we do about it?
In this post we explore:
- What are the main factors affecting water quality?
- What is the situation in our local area?
- Aren’t national parks specially protected?
- What can we do?
- Taking action ourselves
- Lobbying others to take action.
We hope this information is helpful and that it encourages you to take action. TDEG also plan to focus on this issue in our next open meeting on 9th October (more info in our meetings & events diary here – https://tdeg.org.uk/).
What are the main factors affecting water quality?
Water quality it a huge national challenge, in our rivers, lakes and around our coast. The Rivers Trust is one organisation calling for action. Their State of Our Rivers Report is produced on a regular basis. They also have a very informative Sewage Map map, which indicates levels of sewage and storm water overflows permitted to enter our rivers and streams from specific treatment works.
The national information below is from their excellent web site.
We need our rivers, and they need us. Our vital rivers are plagued by sewage, chemical, nutrient and plastic pollution. We’ve heavily modified them and removed natural features so that they no-longer function as they should. This makes the effects of pollution much worse and leaves rivers less able to respond to the pressures of climate change.
- The data is clear: Our rivers are in a desperate state of affairs:
- No single stretch of river in England is in good overall health.
- Just 15% of English river stretches reach good ecological health standards.
- Toxic chemicals that remain in ecosystems for decades pollute every stretch of our rivers.
What are the factors affecting water quality in rivers in England?
- 62% of river stretches failed because of activities attributed to agriculture & rural land management (pollution from fertiliser or livestock slurry).
- 54% of river stretches failed because of activities attributed to the water industry (including treated and untreated sewage discharge, and abstraction of groundwater).
- 26% of river stretches failed because of activities attributed to the urban and transport sector (such as urbanisation and transport pollutants).
- 39% of river stretches have a failure for which the sector is under investigation (is not known).
What is the situation in our local area?
In our local area, we have many of the same problems seen across the country. One of the main issues is the discharge of untreated sewage in stormwater overflows.
The Environment Agency (EA) is meant to monitor water quality in our rivers and streams, and take action if regulations are breached. The main water company operating in Derbyshire is Severn Trent. Under current regulations, the EA is supposed to restrict releases of untreated sewage into rivers by water companies to exceptional circumstances, such as exceptionally heavy rainfall. This is permitted to help reduce pressure on our sewers and prevent flooding. Yet such ‘exceptional permissions’ have become alarmingly routine.
The Rivers Trust has established that during 2023, Severn Trent was permitted to discharge sewage into Tideswell Brook 125 times for a total of 1,702.41 hours. Our waste water systems cannot cope with our current climate patterns – and climate change means the situation can only get worse.
Permitted sewage/stormwater overflows are only one factor affecting local water quality. It is likely that in older villages like our own, there may be additional problems created by the use of poorly maintained septic tanks and outdated drainage systems.
Local residents have reported various pollution events over the years – possibly from domestic or agricultural waste, or detergent or other unidentified pollutants, entering Tideswell Brook. The source of such pollution is difficult to pinpoint, but it is important to report any sightings to the Environment Agency when such events do occur.
The recent study focusing on pharmaceutical pollution in our rivers is likely to be just the tip of an iceberg. This study demonstrated that chemicals such as human drugs, antibiotics, and other chemically active substances are found at dangerously high levels in Tideswell Brook. Our local water treatment works is certainly not removing these substances from the system as well as it should.
Aren’t National Parks Specially Protected?
You may ask if the waterways in our national parks are better protected than elsewhere, particularly because of their importance for wildlife and recreation? Unfortunately this is far from the case.
The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) Health Check, released earlier this year, found just 5 of the 880 water bodies in the English national parks met the highest ecological standards. Every single river and lake contained toxic chemicals. And every year it gets worse: the proportion of rivers in good ecological health dropped from 47% to 39% over the last decade.
Sewage, as described above, was one of the main reasons for failure. Our sewage works are not fit for purpose. Sewage works in our small, rural communities, including Tideswell, are designed to much weaker standards than urban equivalents. Cheaper, less advanced technologies and less monitoring mean even legal ‘treated` outfalls are damaging. These lower standards also do not take account of our visitor population, nor make allowances for the sensitivity of the special wildlife in our dales.
For too long, water regulators and the water companies have largely ignored national park status. A new law is seeking address this. But without proper action and enforcement, this could become just another paper protection. The CNP has called for the new Government to make the lakes and rivers of national parks a priority.
That our local rivers and streams are left in this condition due to these failings is particularly galling when record bonuses are paid to water company shareholders and yet our water bills increase annually. At the same time, the main regulator, the Environment Agency, has been under-funded for over a decade.
Do you think this situation is acceptable?
What can we do?
It is easy to feel overwhelmed about these huge challenges, and cynical about the agencies who are meant to protect our environment. But our rivers are vital to our lives – for our fresh water, for our health and enjoyment, and to ensure nature thrives. In our area, we know that local residents and visitors love our dales – not just walking and cycling along the valleys, but enjoying the wildlife, angling, paddling and even swimming in the wild water. Tideswell Brook runs through a National Nature Reserve, and despite all these problems, the River Wye is still known for its Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout, its Water Voles and Dippers (although we know all of these are declining). We must not let these problems accumulate and literally kill our rivers.
We must take action to save our rivers.
Taking Action Ourselves
There are some simple actions which can reduce pressure on our waste water systems –
- Only put the three Ps down the toilet: paper, poo and pee – anything else runs the risk of blocking sewers, which increases the likelihood of sewage being released into rivers. This includes wet wipes which brand themselves as flushable.
- Reduce the amount of cooking oils, fats and grease that go down the kitchen sink. This can also prevent sewer blockages from huge ‘fatbergs’, which block up the sewer system.
- Reduce the amount of rainfall that gets into the sewerage network. Non-permeable surfaces like concrete and fake grass do not absorb water in the same way as lawns and natural vegetated land. When it rains, water accumulates on hard surfaces and flows quickly into storm drains. Install a water butt to collect rain water for the garden.
- Reduce water use generally. Using less water means reduced pressure on the waste water system (and if you’re on a meter, it saves money as well). Lots of ideas here.
- Use eco-friendly laundry and washing products. This helps to reduce contaminants in our waste water.
- Dispose of all unwanted medicines properly – at our local pharmacy. Never flush these down your toilet.
- Avoid using a lot of detergent to wash your car, or allowing detergents to enter our local stream.
- Discourage your dog from playing in the local rivers. Vulnerable species such as Water Voles can be disturbed, and flea and worm treatments have been shown to wash off and accumulate in our streams.
- Report any pollution events you observe to the correct authorities (take photos to help with this). The Environment Agency 24-hour hotline is 0800 80 70 60.
Lobbying Others to Take Action
Many organisations are actively lobbying Central Government, local MPs, the Environment Agency and water companies, to take action to save our rivers. You can support these organisations directly, and also lobby these same agencies as an individual.
Organisations which are taking direct action on water quality include:
- The Campaign for National Parks
- The Rivers Trust
- Derbyshire Wildlife Trust – Rights of Rivers campaign.
- The i Newspaper launched its rivers campaign during the lead up to the general election, calling for five goals to be achieved.
These organisations often have petitions you can sign up to, or other ways of supporting them. Your individual voice can join up with others for a far greater impact.
But change must come from Central Government. We need to call for:-
- better regulations and higher standards to protect water quality – particularly to address outdated, small wastewater treatment works in our rural areas and national parks;
- better monitoring and enforcement, so the water companies and big polluters are properly held to account;
- and more support for the Environment Agency and land managers such as farmers, to ensure our water quality is the best it can be in all our rivers and streams.
As individuals, we should all contact our local MP for the Derbyshire Dales – John Whitby (email: john.whitby.mp@parliament.uk).
We should also lobby the government department responsible for making the required changes. Steve Reed is the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. You can email him at Steve.reed.mp@parliament.uk .
Make sure they both know how much you care about our local rivers and how concerned you are about the findings we have shared here. Ask them to support the changes listed above to address these problems.
