While it was sad to hear the River Severn fishing representative say that the Severn was the dirtiest river in Europe (BBC News), I believe we should thank him for raising the issue, because river pollution is a problem for us all.

The state of our rivers is a crisis which can no longer be ignored. Every single river in England is now polluted beyond legal limits by human, agricultural and industrial waste. In 2020 alone, water companies released untreated human sewage into our waterways on more than 400,000 occasions.

A key part of the problem is the inability of our underfunded regulatory agencies to enforce standards and penalise polluters. With government funding to England’s Environmental Agency falling by more than 70 per cent in the past decade, water quality monitoring has been slashed.

Recently it was reported by the BBC that Shropshire is one of the worst counties for river pollution in England.

You may recall the recent story of a nurse from Shrewsbury who was swimming the Severn for charity. On the Worcester to Gloucester stretch she was taken seriously ill after swallowing raw sewage.

The problem now seems to be affecting every river in the country. With serious concerns being expressed about the River Wye, considered the most beautiful river in England. Here discharges from sewage works and the uncontrolled building of chicken farms along the route of the river has resulted in an excess of phosphates into the river killing valuable wildlife, necessary for the health of the river and killing some fish. It has led to corporate salmon fishing events having to cancelled.

This is not just a problem for rivers, the coastal areas are suffering as well. Take for example Chichester harbour in West Sussex. This harbour is one of the most highly protected marine environments in the country, but the latest analysis by Natural England shows that 80 per cent of the protected habitats are now in an unfavourable or declining condition (The Guardian).

With the need now to spend more holidays in this country, then it is time these concerns were seriously looked at. Also with flooding predicted to become more regular then it is time we took the health of our rivers much more seriously.

Andrew C. Dyke

Gobowen.