Quality of Water @ Rivers, Beaches, Bathing Spots

[Barry]

I'm sure you know that older properties have grey water, storm water and sewage all going down the same pipe and this should be filtered at the sewage works.

More modern systems have separate drainage for sewage and grey waste water, which is much better.

If the first system is overwhelmed with heavy rain, the results can be a trifle unpleasant, or a very unpleasant trifle.

[Borg Refinery]

If, using bioremediation, they can clean up huge oil spills in about 3-4 years, then they should be able to sort out a few measly rivers in one of the richest countries in the world, or so you'd think.

I read a thread on researchgate stating that 1/2 the properties in north london have incorrectly fitted systems, so are sending wastewater to the wrong places.. hence the huge contamination of the river lee. And you have factories around north london and herts that pump chemicals in - one incident killed all the fish for a multi mile stretch in one swoop.

The problem is that measures like aeration or bio or phyto remediation are useless if you don't prevent the root cause - incorrectly fitted sewage systems, factories dumping and simply contaminating the sea/rivers with leaks- and govt dumping things themselves.

The problem is it's a choice and our so called leaders have made theirs.

[Streetwalker]

Over the years I have kept a few fish .A Koi pond down the Garden and some tropical fish indoors . Anyone who keeps fish will tell you that you are not actually keeping fish but keeping water .
Water management in itself is relatively easy if you follow basic rules . Filter , oxygenate  and  population waste control within the body of water concerned . Moving that to a larger scale within our environment   we have natural and mechanical filtration and oxygenation . The only thing we have to actually 'do' to fix the problem is either control the population  or increase the mechanical filtration .

I wonder what area scientists suggest is needed for human population ?  With fish its roughly a square foot of surface area to every inch of fish . Keeping the environment right and our water quality up to scratch  is   I would suggest simple task if the basic rules are followed and in that we have it arse upward .

You have to get your environment right before you increase the population   

[johnofgwent]

The water quality criteria in place when I was measuring the amount of heavy metal pollution in molluscs in the severn estuary off the south Wales coast circa 1977 have been heavily reduced and focus shifted to traffic and dog management and lifeguard provision under EU blue flag schemes.

As a result some beaches considered too dangerous to swim off in the late 70s now have blue flags while the levels of faecal coliforms are barely changed.

[Borg Refinery]

Either Southern Water have different reporting criteria or they are not doing very well. I have not swam in the sea since coming back to the UK and not swam in the Med since I felt this huge sea monster brush past my legs and disturb the water. Swimming pools are far more inviting, as they are less likely to have floating brown logs, but it still can happen! 

What were you doing swimming with Diane Abbott? On second thoughts...

...Oh wait, I thought that said..nevermind.

To be fair, floating leeks are just as big a problem.

[Barry]

Either Southern Water have different reporting criteria or they are not doing very well. I have not swam in the sea since coming back to the UK and not swam in the Med since I felt this huge sea monster brush past my legs and disturb the water. Swimming pools are far more inviting, as they are less likely to have floating brown logs, but it still can happen! 

[Borg Refinery]

Data published on Thursday reveals just 14% of English rivers are of good ecological standard, a rating that suggests they are as close to their natural state as possible.

Figures released by the Environment Agency show for the first time that no river has achieved good chemical status, suggesting pollution from sewage discharge, chemicals and agriculture are having a huge impact on river quality
...
There has been no improvement in the state of English rivers since 2016 when the last data was published, despite government promises that by 2027 75% of English rivers would be rated good. The data shows only 16% of waterways – rivers, lakes and streams – are classed as in ecological good health, the same as 2016.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/17/rivers-in-england-fail-pollution-tests-due-to-sewage-and-chemicals

That's rough, apparently the cleanest ones are in Northumberland..

As for our beaches & seawaters..

Most are good but overall very worrying, from what I've read, the situation of rivers/surface water has improved since 2002 according to the Open University, as the EU has forced us to clean up our waters.

There's some interesting new research going on wrt clearing microplastics too now, so hopefully that will be added and considered..

"Defra said in 1988 just 19 per cent of bathing waters were good quality or better compared to 90 per cent in 2015."

Related;

Britain has the highest level of "poor water quality" bathing sites in the European Union and the number of "excellent" quality has slumped by more than a fifth since last year, according to an EU-wide report.

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/britain-s-beaches-rated-worst-eu-levels-poor-quality-bathing-water-a7048286.html