Guidance

River basin management plans, updated 2022: progress report

Updated 22 December 2022

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This document summarises what has happened and what has been achieved since the 2015 river basin management plans were published.

It includes:

• an overview of the changes in the state of the water environment
• a summary of progress towards achieving the environmental objectives in the 2015 plans
• a summary of the measures implemented since 2015
• identifies some of the main changes in the evidence used in river basin planning

2. Changes in the state of the water environment since 2015

2.1 Surface water ecological status or potential

The most recent assessment of water body status was made in 2019. The proportion of surface waters at good ecological status or potential in England in 2019 (16%) was similar to that in 2015 (17%). Please note that comparisons are made using the same (cycle 2) water body network, however since there have been only minor changes in the (cycle 3) water body network for the updated plans (see Section 6.3) the overall percentages are unlikely to be affected.

Ecological status: number of water bodies

Year	Bad	Poor	Moderate	Good	High
2015	135	820	2,943	774	7
2019	137	793	2,988	756	4

Ecological status: percentage of total water bodies

Year	Bad	Poor	Moderate	Good	High
2015	3%	17%	63%	17%	less than 1%
2019	3%	17%	63%	16%	less than 1%

The ecological status of a water body is derived from the status of individual tests or quality elements. At a national level there has been no significant change in the status of these quality elements. For example, in 2019 the majority of sampled rivers are still at good or high status for invertebrates, ammonia and dissolved oxygen, but under half are at good or high status for fish, macrophytes or phosphate.

Proportion of sampled rivers at good or high status for selected elements

Year	Invertebrates	Fish	Macrophytes	Ammonia	Dissolved oxygen	Phosphate
2015	73%	42%	35%	92%	83%	45%
2019	76%	41%	35%	92%	82%	45%

Although the overall results have shown little change, there is some movement between status classes for individual water bodies. In England, 151 water bodies improved from moderate or worse ecological status in 2015, to good or better ecological status in 2019. In contrast, 171 water bodies dropped from good or better ecological status in 2015, to moderate or worse ecological status in 2019.

2.2 Surface water chemical status

There has been little underlying change in status for most substances assessed as part of chemical status for surface waters. However, the overall picture presented for chemical status has changed considerably due to new substances and changes to techniques and methods. These are summarised in the ‘changes in evidence’ section in this document and in section 3.2.3 of the River basin planning process overview document.

2.3 Groundwater status

Groundwater classification results are based on the quantity, quality and retention of water in aquifers. Each of the 271 groundwater bodies in England is classified for quantitative and chemical status.

There has been a net increase in the number of groundwater bodies meeting good quantitative status, with 73% at good in 2019 compared to 69% in 2015.

There has been a net decrease in the number of groundwater bodies meeting good chemical status, with 45% at good in 2019 compared to 53% in 2015.

2.4 Reasons for changes in water body status

The reasons for changes in status are specific to each water body. They fall into 3 main categories:

1. an uplift in status resulting from improvement or additional protection actions having been put in place

2. a reduction in status resulting from an increase in the pressures on the environment

3. a change in how status is assessed, for example changes in monitoring programmes, including the location of monitoring points or the elements monitored

There may also be a small number of instances where the status is recorded as having changed due statistical chance rather than a real, sustained change in the environment.

Changes in the status of individual water bodies since 2015 are displayed in the river basin management plan progress maps on the plan mapping system.

For more information on preventing deterioration please see Section 3.1

3. Compliance with the environmental objectives in the 2015 plan

3.1 Preventing deterioration

In England, 111 surface waters (2.4% of surface water bodies) deteriorated by at least 1 ecological status class (at greater than or equal to 75% confidence) between 2015 and 2019.

In some water bodies, these deteriorations in ecological status reflect real changes in the environment. Action needs to be taken to reverse these deteriorations as soon as is practicable, and the ecological status objective for the water body set in 2015 was not altered as a result of this real deterioration in status.

In other water bodies, the change in ecological status is the result of a change in the evidence used to derive the classification result and does not reflect an actual deterioration in the environment. For example, changes in the water body sampling or monitoring sites, changes in the environmental standards used to determine status classes, the addition of an element not previously classified in 2015, or revised assessments based on better information, as is the case for the mitigation measures assessments for modified water bodies. In these situations, the ecological status objective set in 2015 has been updated to reflect the new and improved understanding of the status of the water body.

3.2 Water body status objectives

3.2.1 Surface water ecological status

Summary of ecological status objectives for surface waters in England, set in the 2015 river basin management plans

Date	Moderate or worse	Good or better
By 2015	967	813
By 2021	32	166
By 2027 or beyond	174	2,527

Twenty of the 166 surface water bodies set an objective of achieving good ecological status by 2021 had met this objective by 2019. One hundred and twelve water bodies set an objective of achieving good ecological status by 2027 had met this objective by 2019.

The reasons why some water bodies failed to meet their status objective by 2021 include:

• more recovery time needed after measures were implemented
• additional measures are required, over and above those identified in the 2015 plans
• expected measures were not implemented by 2021
• changes to evidence and understanding have led to a new or revised less stringent objective being proposed

3.2.2. Groundwater status

Sixteen groundwater bodies in England were set an objective of achieving good quantitative status by 2021 and 9 of them achieved this.

Nine groundwater bodies in England were set an objective of achieving good chemical status by 2021 and 3 of them achieved this.

3.3 Kilometres enhanced and protected

Achieving ecological status objectives and outcomes for protected areas, species and habitats, is the ultimate aim of river basin planning. However, the lag time between actions being taken and responses in the environment being detected through classification results means that the results have not always reflected the work being undertaken to enhance the water environment.

Kilometres enhanced is a simple and useful indicator of the extent of progress in enhancing and protecting the water environment. It was established by the Environment Agency in 2016 as a new approach to reporting work undertaken to enhance the water environment. It was expanded in 2018 to include work to prevent or reverse deterioration. It captures work done to support the objectives for water body status and protected areas and species.

Kilometres enhanced captures contributions from a range of people and organisations who play their part in resolving complex environmental problems and preventing or reversing worsening conditions.

It covers actions in all categories of water body. Enhancements in lakes, coastal and estuarine waters and groundwater are reported as linear kilometres to allow them to be incorporated into the overall ‘kilometres enhanced and kilometres protected’ measure.

In total between January 2016 and March 2022, 10,945km were enhanced and between April 2018 and March 2022, 1,353km have been protected.

Severn river basin district figures only include waters in England.

River basin district	Km enhanced	Km protected
Anglian	1,711	215
Humber	2,253	308
North West	1,286	71
Northumbria	551	12
Severn	1,413	6
South East	584	3
South West	1,917	667
Thames	1,230	70

4. Measures implemented since 2015

The 2015 river basin management plans contained summary programmes of measures. Whilst it has not been possible to track progress with all of those measures, many of them have been recorded as part of kilometres enhanced reporting, as summarised in this table.

A total of 7,588 actions contributed to kilometres enhanced across England between January 2016 and March 2022.

River basin district	Number of actions
Anglian	1,129
Humber	1,287
North West	891
Northumbria	231
Severn	1,134
South East	454
South West	1,611
Thames	851

Severn River Basin District figures only include waters in England.

Actions include those delivered through Environment Agency programmes, and exercise of its powers, such as the environment programme and flood and coastal risk management programme, and by catchment based approach partnerships. Examples of partners include the Forestry Commission, Natural England, water companies, the Coal Authority, businesses, communities, and many environmental charitable trusts.

Actions were also undertaken through countryside stewardship to reduce pollution from agricultural working practices. Implementation of the Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018 started in this period. In 2020, 50 new agricultural inspection officers were employed by the Environment Agency and carried out 1,500 farm inspections in that year. These officers helped in raising the number of agricultural inspections from just over 300 in 2019 to 2020 to over 1,800 in 2020 to 2021. A Remote Sensing Team was also created in the Environment Agency to assist in agricultural regulation.

Across England, the majority of the existing investment came from the Water Industry National Environment Programme and the Environment Agency’s environment programme, where enhancements directly improve parts of the water environment which are not meeting required standards and make a greater contribution to achieving good status. Examples of these include upgrades to waste water treatment works, improvements to the sewerage network, river and floodplain restoration projects, tree planting and fencing along rivers, as well as projects to slow and store run-off. The water industry national environment programme also includes measures to prevent deterioration occurring, for example from urban growth, thereby protecting the environment and the benefits already gained.

Schemes were implemented to treat water discharging from abandoned coal and metal mines, and limit mobilisation of metals from contaminated mine wastes.

Highways England mitigated 15 high risk outfalls on the strategic road network and 83 biodiversity schemes were delivered through the Environment Designated Fund.

The Water Environment Grant was launched in 2018, using rural development programme funds to deliver significant investment in the water environment. Projects are delivering a range of improvements, including weir removal, habitat restoration, wetland creation and diffuse pollution interventions.

Since January 2016, the Environment Agency’s Restoring Sustainable Abstraction Programme has changed 324 abstraction licences, resulting in 49 billion litres of water a year being returned to the environment. The programme also removed the risk of licence holders abstracting 900 billion litres of water through the removal of headroom or unused quantities from abstraction licences.

The Environment Agency has also reviewed nearly 2,000 time limited abstraction licences and where appropriate, changed them to make them more sustainable. In addition, 724 abstraction licences have been revoked that had not been used for over 4 years; all contributing to reducing the impact abstraction has on the environment.

As part of the drive to ensure sustainable water supplies, the Environment Agency is working with a range of abstractors to bring long standing abstractions that were previously exempt from regulation into a permitting regime. These are called New Authorisations. The Environment Agency received 1,622 New Authorisations applications by 30 June 2020. By 30 June 2021, the Environment Agency had issued 780 new abstraction licences with the remaining applications on track to be determined by the end of December 2022.

Activities delivered under countryside stewardship also made a significant contribution, for example, by farmers changing rural land management practices to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphate entering water bodies. Individual regulatory projects focussed on farm compliance in protected areas have successfully demonstrated the benefits of this approach, which will be taken forward in future years.

The new Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund started in 2021. This funds projects that are developing products or services that provide opportunities for public and private sector investors to invest capital in a way that generates a financial return whilst enhancing the natural environment and improving resilience.

Some of the greatest lengths of enhancements came from the removal of barriers in rivers, including the installation of eel and fish passes. These interventions can help improve fish populations for many kilometres by allowing fish and eel to migrate upstream.

The Fisheries Improvement Programme, which started in 2015 to 2016, reinvests fishing licence income in projects that create, or restore, fisheries habitats and provide benefits for local anglers. The programme, which is administered by the Environment Agency, has involved thousands of partners including angling clubs, non-governmental organisations, landowners and local authorities. It has provided £6M of funding, which has been matched by £13M of external funding, to deliver about 900 projects across England. Many of these projects addressed issues that were affecting the status of water bodies.

Actions contributing to kilometres protected include activity such as farm visits, correcting drainage misconnections (including water company programmes), and changes made to cover crops that help to reduce sediment input and diffuse pollution from nutrients.

Local collaborative achievements of the Catchment Based Approach Partnerships can be seen in the ‘Partnership success highlights 2016 to 2021’ section of the Catchment Partnership Pages.

As part of the new Nature for Climate Fund:

• The England Woodland Creation Offer was launched in 2021 as the flagship funding mechanism for woodland creation schemes delivering the England Tree Action Plan. It provides additional incentives to landowners for woodland creation delivering wider benefits, including riparian shade, natural flood management and water quality improvements. The Nature for Climate Fund also funds other tree planting initiatives, including the Local Authority Treescapes Fund, Urban Tree Challenge Fund, Community Forests and Woodlands for Water.
• The Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme provides funding to restore peatlands in the uplands and lowlands of England, supporting the delivery of the England Peat Action Plan (May 2021). Restoration Grants fund landscape scale restoration work on degraded peatlands and Discovery Grants support applicants to gather the information they will need to apply for a Restoration Grant in future rounds.

The first round of the new Green Recovery Challenge Fund was launched in 2020. The aim of the £40 million fund was to support projects that were ready to deliver and focus on nature restoration, nature-based solutions and connecting people with nature. They would deliver against the goals of the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, whilst helping to sustain and build capacity in the sector.

5. Changes in evidence since 2015

5.1 Climate change

The United Kingdom is starting to experience more frequent extreme weather, rising sea levels and sustained increases in temperature. Evidence suggests that freshwater species are being impacted by climate change. Hot dry summers are a particular problem for salmonids, where long-term declines are likely to be related to climate change. In certain key salmonid rivers, poor recruitment has been observed during some recent hot, dry summers. This may result in water bodies failing to meet ecological objectives.

There is evidence of shifts in macroinvertebrate community structure related to climate change, however more evidence is required to demonstrate causality and mechanisms. High temperatures can cause algal blooms and weed choking during summer months. Warmer winters can also increase risks from some invasive species such as floating pennywort.

Global temperature increases have the potential to impact the viability and distribution of species. For terrestrial species there is evidence of northerly migrations to overcome temperature increases. Truly aquatic species may be unable to move between catchments, resulting in more species being threatened with either local or national extinction.

You can find more information in The climate emergency challenges for the water environment document.

5.2 Assessing chemical status

Since the 2015 plans were published there have been a number of changes in the assessment of chemical status of surface water bodies. These include new substances, new standards, and improved analytical techniques and methods. Biota sampling is now used to assess more persistent, toxic and potentially bioaccumulative chemicals and give a more accurate reflection of these chemicals in the environment. Whilst these changes have led to a significant change in the headline figures for chemical status, there is little underlying change in chemical status for other chemicals. These changes are predominantly due to 3 groups of substances: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, mercury and perfluorooctane-sulfonate. More details are provided in section 3.2.3 of the River basin planning process overview document.

5.3 Catchment economic appraisals

Catchment economic appraisals are undertaken to assess the benefits, cost and any negative impacts of implementing measures to improve the water environment. The results of the economic appraisals help ensure that wider benefits and the value of the water environment are taken into account in decision making. The results are used to indicate where achieving good status would be disproportionately expensive.

The catchment economic appraisals undertaken in preparing the 2015 river basin management plans were subject to a proportionate review as part of the development of the water industry national environment programme for the 2019 water industry price review. One hundred and seventy out of 335 catchment economic appraisals were reviewed. The results have been reflected in the objectives in the updates to the plans.

Water industry funded measures form the majority of expected investment in realising the environmental objectives. Therefore, the review and update of economic appraisals, completed to support the water industry price review in 2019, has optimised water body status objectives sufficiently for the 2021 update to the plans.

Since 2015 a number of projects have been undertaken exploring more integrated approaches to appraising measures to deliver natural capital benefits such as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) 25 Year Environment Plan. These projects include exploration of improved approaches to economic appraisals.

5.4 Waste water treatment and phosphorus

The amount of phosphorus that can be removed from sewage during treatment at waste water treatment works is limited by the available technology. This ‘technically achievable limit’ determines whether it is possible to reduce the phosphorus levels low enough to meet the standard for good ecological status in the water body receiving the discharge from the treatment works. When the 2015 river basin management plans were published, the technically achievable limit for phosphorus was 0.5mg/l total phosphorus. In some locations this meant phosphorus levels remained too high to meet good status and so less stringent objectives were set for those water bodies.

Trials undertaken by the water industry since 2015 have shown that more phosphorus can be removed from sewage during treatment as a result of improvements in technology. Therefore, the technically achievable limit has been lowered to 0.25mg/l. This limit was used in planning for the 2019 water industry price review and as a planning assumption in reviewing water body status objectives for the updated river basin management plans. As a result, some less stringent objectives for phosphorus set in the 2015 plans are being revised to good status objectives in the updated plans. The improvements in technology are contributing to a progressive reduction in phosphorus loads discharged to rivers from waste water treatment works. The national loading was reduced by 66% by 2020 compared to a 1995 baseline and an 83% reduction is predicted by 2027 based on the measures agreed for the 2019 water industry price review. The technically achievable limit will be reviewed again after 2025.

5.5 Changes to water quality standards

There have been some minor changes to some water quality standards used to determine status class for relevant elements. These changes will be published in an update to the existing Water Framework Directive (Standards and Classification) Directions (England and Wales) 2015.

A new nitrogen standard has been developed for lakes and was used to classify total nitrogen in lake water bodies for the first time in 2019. This is further explained in Section 3.2.2 of the River basin planning process overview document [LINK].

6. Changes to protected areas and water bodies since 2015

6.1 Drinking water protected areas

Water bodies are identified as drinking water protected areas where they meet the criteria set out in the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 (WFD Regulations).

The Environment Agency has reviewed the register of surface water drinking water protected areas for the updated plans to ensure the correct water bodies are identified.

There are a total of 450 surface water bodies in England currently identified on the register as drinking water protected areas.

There are 37 water bodies in England newly identified as surface water drinking water protected areas containing an abstraction that meets the criteria of the WFD Regulations.

There are 73 water bodies in England that have been removed as drinking water protected areas as they no longer meet the criteria set out in the WFD Regulations.

View a detailed list of the changes to the water body network and designations.

6.2 Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations sensitive area designations

The objective of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations 1994 is to protect the environment from the adverse effects of waste water discharges. Sensitive areas for nutrients are designated for water bodies affected by eutrophication or where surface water abstraction is affected by elevated nitrate concentrations. Reductions or emission standards for nutrients in sewage effluent must be met within areas sensitive to nutrient pollution. A review of these designations is done every 4 years.

View the designation changes that came into effect on 13 May 2019, including new and amended designations and waters no longer identified as sensitive areas.

6.3 Nitrate vulnerable zones

Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are areas designated as being at risk from agricultural nitrate pollution. They include about 55% of land in England.

Defra reviews NVZs every 4 years to account for changes in nitrate concentrations.

The last NVZ review was in December 2020. It did not find substantial changes in the patterns of nitrate pollution in England, so the areas designated as NVZs remain the same for 2021 to 2024.

6.4 Water bodies

There have been some minor changes in the water body network to correct errors:

• where a water body is named incorrectly or associated with the wrong operational catchment
• an improvement in the definition of the coastal edge of water bodies

These changes do not substantially alter the number or characteristics of the reported water bodies and have already been made.

A small number of more significant changes to water bodies have been made for the updated plans. These changes include splitting some water bodies and merging others.

View the changes to the water body network. These changes to water bodies, and their associated classification and objectives, are included in the data sets for the updated plans.

6.5 Artificial and heavily modified water bodies

There have been a small number of changes to the artificial and heavily modified water body designations. These are in response to a changing environment, information provided by partners or where errors have been identified in the current designations. View the changes of the heavily modified water body designations review.

7. Changes to legislative, policy and economic landscapes since 2015

The United Kingdom left the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019. The requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive, which were transposed into domestic law, were retained as domestic law at the end of the transition period. This updated plan has been produced under the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 and Ministerial Guidance on river basin planning 2021.

Since leaving the EU there have been policy and legislative changes that will impact on the environment, notably the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan (published in 2018); the Environment Act 2021 and the Agriculture Act 2020. Many of these new policies were developed since 2015 and some are still in development, and while these new measures have been designed with environmental improvement as a key objective, it is not yet possible to quantify the exact impact they will have during implementation of the updated plans. These new policies are reflected in the updated programmes of measures in the plans.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected implementation of the current plans during 2020 and 2021, including delaying the delivery of some measures due to practical constraints related to lockdowns and safe ways of working.

Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has also had a significant impact on the United Kingdom’s economy. The longer term effects of the economy on delivery of river basin management plans will become clearer during the next cycle.