Cancellation of water tests puts cleanup plans in jeopardy

The Rivers Trust has long been calling for an increase in monitoring of our rivers and we called out the risks of two decades of declining government monitoring in our 2024 State of Our Rivers Report.

We advocate for an evidence-based approach to understanding the many complex issues affecting our rivers, and as a society we must ensure we have enough data and evidence to target the right actions in the right place and to underpin the level of investment which can help restore our rivers to full health, otherwise we risk wasting money on the wrong measures, and still not fixing the problems.

Sir Jon Cunliffe’s Independent Water Commission has just this week called for water monitoring programmes to be strengthened and to integrate multiple sources of data to ensure we fully understand the state of the water environment. We need a monitoring approach that is fit for today’s challenges, a fresh approach that makes better use of technologies such as continuous water quality monitoring sensors, satellite data and AI, that includes rigorous testing for emerging chemical pollutants and that empowers local communities by supporting robust citizen science.

On the CaSTCo project, The Rivers Trust and more than 20 partner organisations have been demonstrating how investment in training, equipping and supporting local communities to be the eyes and ears on the ground, and monitor their local rivers can provide robust evidence to help detect problems and target action to improve river health. The government must act on the recommendations in the Cunliffe review, and invest in a more robust evidence base to underpin rapid action to tackle the crisis of river health.