The 10 Spookiest Facts About Rivers
Emily Cooper
28/10/19
Halloween is the spookiest time of the year—but there's some pretty terrifying stuff happening to our rivers all year long. Our terrifying facts about rivers will leave you shaking in your waders...
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40% of all rivers in England and Wales are polluted with sewage.
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Freshwater species have seen an 83% decline since 1970
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Hundreds of sites in rivers around the are awash with dangerously high levels of antibiotics
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By 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish
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Globally, wetland extent is estimated to have declined by more than 50% since 1900
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Since 1970, there has been a 70% in the numbers of invasive alien species across 21 countries
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300-400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other wastes from industrial facilities are dumped into the world’s waters annually.
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Only 1% of the rivers in England, Scotland and Wales are free of artificial barriers.
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Less than one in five rivers in England and Wales are classed as in good ecological health
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A third of water taken from our rivers is wasted