Surface water status
Updated 10 December 2024
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/england-biodiversity-indicators/21-surface-water-status
Last updated: 2024
Latest data available: 2019
Introduction
The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) underpins an important mechanism for assessing and managing the water environment, through a six-yearly cycle of river basin management planning and implementing measures to protect and improve the water environment. The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) 2017 Regulations transposed WFD into law in England and Wales. Similar regulations transposed WFD in Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively. These regulations were retained in UK law after EU exit via the EU Withdrawal Act 2018. The UK continues to classify and report water body status under the new legislation. For ease of reference this legislation will be referred to as the WFD throughout this document.
The indicator shows the percentage of English water bodies in each ecological status classification, where status refers to water quality as determined by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) Regulations 2017. Around 5,000 water bodies were assessed in each year of the indicator: including rivers, canals, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters.
The next comprehensive update of classifications in all water bodies, as required in the WFD Regulations, will be in 2025. Monitoring will continue to be prioritised in areas where new information is required to enable improvements.
The number of indicators published as part of the Biodiversity Indicators suite will increase as new indicators are developed in response to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, consequently the Biodiversity Indicators production team may not have the capacity to continue to update this indicator in the future. If you use the data published for this indicator and feel this decision would impact you, please get in touch.
Data for this indicator can be found in the published datafile. We also have a similar indicator at the UK level.
Type of indicator
State indicator
Type of official statistics
Official statistic
Assessment of change
Due to the change in methodology in 2015 there is insufficient data to make long or short term assessments based on comparable data.
Key results
In 2019, the most recent full set of classification results, 16% of surface water bodies assessed under the Water Framework Directive Regulations (WFD Regulations) were in high or good ecological status.
In 2015, England adopted the new monitoring and classification standards in preparation for cycle 2 river basin management plans. Figure 1 shows the data for both cycle 1 and cycle 2 in 2015 but these are not comparable due to the change in methodology. In 2015, for cycle 2, 20% of surface water bodies assessed under the WFD Regulations were in high or good ecological status.
Figure 1: Status classifications of surface water bodies in England under the Water Framework Directive, 2009 to 2019
Source: Environment Agency
Notes about Figure 1
- Based on the numbers of surface water bodies classified under the Water Framework Directive Regulations (WFD Regulations) in England. These include rivers, canals, lakes, estuaries and coastal water bodies, but exclude sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) ditches and surface water transfers
- Water bodies that are heavily modified or artificial (HMAWBs) are included in this indicator alongside natural water bodies. HMAWBs are classified as good, moderate, poor or bad ‘ecological potential’. Results have been combined; for example, the number of water bodies with a good status classification has been added to the number of HMAWBs with good ecological potential
- The results published each year until 2016 relate to data reported in that year; data reported in a given year relate to data collected over the previous year. In 2016, the Environment Agency moved to a triennial reporting system. The most recent classification was in 2019
- The percentage of water bodies in each status classification has been calculated based on the total number of water bodies assessed in each year
- The total number of assessments varies slightly from year to year (see Table 2).
Further detail
In 2019, 751 surface water bodies (16%) in England were in high or good status (Figure 1). A breakdown of the headline measure by water body type is presented in Figure 2 and in the text below. In 2019, 16% of rivers and canals, 14% of lakes and 29% of estuaries and coastal water bodies in England were in high or good status.
Figure 2: Status classifications of surface water bodies in England, by water body type, under the water framework directive, 2009 to 2019
Source: Environment Agency
Notes about Figure 2
- Based on numbers of surface water bodies classified under the Water Framework Directive Regulations (WFD Regulations) in England. Includes rivers, canals, lakes, estuaries and coastal water bodies, but excludes SSSI ditches and surface water transfers
- Water bodies that are heavily modified or artificial (HMAWBs) are included in this indicator alongside natural water bodies. HMAWBs are classified as high, good, moderate, poor or bad ‘ecological potential’. Results have been combined; for example, the number of water bodies with a high status classification has been added to the number of HMAWBs with high ecological potential
- The results published each year until 2016 relate to data reported in that year data reported in a given year relate to data collected over the previous year. In 2016, the Environment Agency moved to a triennial reporting system therefore no new data was collected for 2017 and 2018. The most recent classification was in 2019
- The percentage of water bodies in each status classification has been calculated based on the total number of that type of water body assessed in each year
- The total number of water bodies assessed varies slightly from year to year (see notes on Figure 1)
- Data from 2015 onwards are not directly comparable to those in earlier years due to a change in methodology
Table 1: Percentage of surface water bodies in England awarded each status classification in 2019; by water body type
| Water body type | Total number | High | Good | Moderate | Poor | Bad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivers and canals | 3,900 | 0.1% | 15.8% | 62.3% | 18.6% | 3.2% |
| Estuaries and coastal | 166 | 0.0% | 28.9% | 65.1% | 3.0% | 3.0% |
| Lakes | 589 | 0.2% | 13.9% | 73.9% | 10.9% | 1.2% |
| Total | 4,655 | 0.1% | 16.0% | 63.9% | 17.0% | 2.9% |
Source: Environment Agency
Table 2: The number of water bodies assessed 2009 to 2019
| Year | cycle | Total number of water bodies assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Cycle 1 | 5,805 |
| 2010 | Cycle 1 | 5,739 |
| 2011 | Cycle 1 | 5,760 |
| 2012 | Cycle 1 | 5,692 |
| 2013 | Cycle 1 | 5,735 |
| 2014 | Cycle 1 | 5,769 |
| 2015 | Cycle 1 | 5,738 |
| 2015 | Cycle 2 | 5,738 |
| 2016 | Cycle 2 | 4,656 |
| 2017 | Cycle 2 | 0 |
| 2018 | Cycle 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | Cycle 2 | 4,655 |
Relevance
Surface waters with good status support a diverse assemblage of aquatic invertebrates, fish, mammals and birds. The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) 2017 regulations aim to improve and integrate the way water bodies are managed throughout England and Wales. England aims to reach good chemical and ecological status in inland and coastal waters by 2027 at the latest. Although some chemicals used to assess Good Chemical Status have deadlines in the 2030s. England is striving to improve and protect the condition of the water environment: objectives to improve and protect each water body have been set; and measures defined to ensure meeting the objectives. The 2023 Plan for Water committed to restore 75% of England’s water bodies to good ecological status.
Web links for further information
- GOV.UK website on Improving water quality
- European Commission’s website on the Water Framework Directive
- Environment Agency’s website on River Basin Management Plans and River Basin Management Plans updated 2022
- GOV.UK website on the Outcome Indicator Framework for the 25 Year Environment Plan: 2023 Update– Indicator B3, State of the water environment
- GOV.UK website on Plan for Water
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the many people who have contributed by providing data and to the many colleagues who have helped produce this indicator, particularly the Environment Agency.
Technical annex
The Water Framework Directive Regulations
The WFD came into force in December 2000. It requires the protection and improvement of the water environment, through river basin management plans. These plans set environmental objectives for water bodies and set out programmes of measures to achieve those objectives. There are a number of water quality objectives in WFD, and key aspects are:
- aquatic ecology and water chemistry
- the impact of physical modification of water bodies
- specific unique and valuable habitats (protected sites) drinking water resources; and
- bathing waters and coastal waters use for shellfish aquaculture
The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) created a mechanism for assessing and managing the water environment, through a 6-yearly cycle of river basin management planning and implementing measures to protect and improve the water environment. The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) 2017 Regulations transposed WFD into law in England and Wales. Similar regulations transposed WFD in Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively. All these regulations were retained in UK law after EU Exit via the EU Withdrawal Act 2018. The Environment Agency continues to classify and report water body status under the 2017 regulations. For ease of reference this legislation is referred to as the WFD Regulations throughout this document.
The WFD Regulations specifies the quality elements that can be used to assess the surface water status of a water body. Quality elements can be biological (for example, fish, invertebrates and plants), chemical (for example, heavy metals, pesticides and nutrients) or indicators of the condition of the habitats and water flows and levels (for example, presence of barriers to fish migration and modelled lake level data). Under WFD Regulations the one-out-all-out approach means that if just one quality element fails good status, the overall water body classification will be less than good. Classifications indicate where the quality of the environment is good, where it may need improvement and what may need to be improved. They can also be used, over the years, to plan improvements, show trends and monitor progress. Surface water status in WFD Regulations looks at both the chemical status and the ecological (including biological and habitat condition) status of a water body. Chemical status comprises around 50 priority substances. Other chemicals are included as elements in ecological status. Chemical and ecological status are reported separately but can be combined as an overall status.
For a broader view of the condition of the water environment, see Indicator B3 in the Outcome Indicator Framework for the 25 Year Environment Plan: 2023 update. Information on the objectives to improve and protect each water body, as well as measures defined to ensure the objectives are met, can be found on the Environment Agency website (see web links for further information).
Methodology
General
In England, WFD Regulations status classification is based on information obtained from monitoring of water quality and biological elements in both long-term surveillance networks and more risk-based operational networks.
The programme of monitoring that takes place in a given period is informed by the results of the previous cycle of monitoring and risk assessments. Where it is known with high certainty that a water body is in good status or in less-than-good status, monitoring effort can be refocused to areas at higher risk. This helps to target resources where they are needed most in the environment.
Surveillance water bodies are monitored more intensively. One objective of surveillance monitoring is to look for signs of impact from pressures in order to validate risk assessments and provide a consistent, long-term monitoring network of sites. At water bodies chosen for the surveillance network, data collectors aim to monitor all quality elements over a river basin management plan cycle.
If there are no sampling data for a particular classification period, results from previous classifications may be rolled-over into the classification assessment. For example, river phosphorus results are calculated from data from the previous 3 years. If there are no data in that sampling period, the last classification assessment is rolled forward.
The key developments per cycle are listed below:
Cycle 1 (2009 - 2015)
During 2013 and 2014, England introduced the Ecological Status Indicator (ESI) monitoring programme in order to establish a new fixed network of sampling points and provide a complete baseline of ecological status, covering every river water body in England. This new monitoring programme significantly increased the number of samples that would normally be collected in any single year. This improved confidence in the classification of ecological status and reported statistics of environmental change in river water bodies from 2014. It also resulted in the step changes to the number of rivers assessed in 2013 and 2014 as being in each of the status classifications (see Figures 1 and 2).
Cycle 2 (2015 - 2025)
The introduction of new WFD Regulations monitoring data and classification standards (including a new baseline adopting all of the new standards, tools, designations and water body boundaries) in 2014 led to a step change in the number of water bodies assessed as being in each status classification in following years. It also led to a reduction in the total number of water bodies being assessed because under the new WFD Regulations guidance, water bodies below the 10 kilometres squared catchment area no longer need to be included. The formal reporting of new standards used the second cycle plans published in 2015. The Environment Agency reported using cycle 2 for the first time in 2015, alongside reporting for the end of cycle 1 in both 2015 and 2016.
Cycle 3 and beyond (2025 -)
New water body classifications were produced in 2019 for reporting of the third cycle plans which were published in 2022. This is combined with a review of monitoring and data provision for reporting on the state of the water environment in future.
Since the indicator was last published, the ‘Natural Capital and Ecosystems Assessment’ (NCEA) is now underway which will provide a statistically robust assessment of the health of the water environment and how this changes over time at a national scale. There will be a delay before the networks are fully implemented and substantial trend information becomes available. During this time, we will continue to assess the potential of this new data stream and engage with data providers, stakeholders and users around how any new data may be incorporated into this existing indicator.
Development plan
Since our previous publication we have adapted the language and visualisations used in this indicator. We are keen to hear from our users about these changes, as well as our published development plan, please email us.