Inland Waterways and Rivers: Chemicals

Question

We take over 90,000 measurements of water quality each year to meet a wide range of legislative, regulatory, statutory requirements. Many of these are to monitor a large range of chemicals used by industry, the public and in food production.

We currently classify the state of waterbodies within rivers, estuaries, coastal waters and streams under the Water Framework Directive (Standards and Classification) Directions (England and Wales) 2015. This reports on over 30 measures, grouped into ecological status and chemical status which guides action to manage water quality.

The attached guidance document includes information about how we classify water bodies.