The UK’s network of rivers and waterways should be places for wildlife to thrive and to be enjoyed by all. But they are increasingly under threat.

The health of some rivers in the UK has been on the decline for several years and soon we could reach a point of no return. The quality of water is so bad in some areas that wildlife has been wiped out completely.

One of the main forms of pollution in rivers is from sewage discharge. Sewage treatment works run by the water companies regularly discharge sewage into rivers.

The contents of this sewage can lead to algae blooms, these blooms are caused by excessive nutrients and minerals in water which comes from sewage.

These algal blooms cover the surface of the water and stop sunlight penetrating the water’s surface, this kills plants in the water.

Fish and other animals can also be affected by the algae, as they use up the oxygen in the water.

But this is not the only type of pollution which can impact river health, other pollutants discharged into rivers can also kill wildlife.

Dumping of sewage is not the only activity which is polluting our rivers. The top cause of river pollution is now thought to be from agricultural pollution.

Much of the farming industry is scarcely regulated when it comes to river pollution.

This lack of regulation and a focus on pollution from sewage treatment works is the reason pollution from agriculture causes more river pollution than anything else.

In England the Environment Agency is responsible for regulating, monitoring and taking action when pollution does occur.

However, they have seen budgets cut by two-thirds in the last decade.

This means that not only do they not know about pollution incidents, but that polluters can get away with polluting our rivers.

In some areas local community groups are now taking on responsibility of monitoring rivers and informing the relevant authorities about any pollution. Because the Environment Agency does not have the resources to adequately monitor and enforce the law the UK is failing to meet standards set for rivers.

Not a single river can be categorised as having good overall environmental quality under the Water Framework Directive. This directive originally demanded that all rivers met standards for good overall environmental quality by 2015.

But this target has been continually moved and diluted by the Government since then. The 2015 target still is no way near being achieved.

Polluters are able to dump their waste into our rivers secure in the knowledge it is very unlikely they will be monitored, inspected or prosecuted.

A largely ignored problem is only getting worse. Funding must be restored to ensure that the resources needed to prosecute polluters are available. Whilst water companies are routinely fined when pollution occurs this must also happen to anyone who polluted our rivers.

Our rivers must be protected and restored to healthy natural resources for wildlife and recreation.