Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Paragraph: 68
Every community in the country should have access to waters—whether coastal or inland—that are safe...
Conclusion
Every community in the country should have access to waters—whether coastal or inland—that are safe for people to swim in without running the risk of falling ill. Regulators and water companies have made a great deal of progress since the 1990s in cleaning up and monitoring our coastal waters so that they are fit for bathing. This progress must now be extended to rivers. We welcome the efforts made by those water companies that are already working towards designation of river stretches.
Paragraph Reference:
68
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
take positive action to improve water quality. Many of the actions that environmental land management schemes will incentivise will help reduce all major forms of pollution, including faecal pollution and nutrients. This includes the actions under the Sustainable Farming Incentive that we will incentivise this year, for example, to introduce cover crops to reduce run off and improve crop yields by minimising the wastage of valuable nutrients while improving soil health. Alongside this, the Government is expanding the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) partnership to ensure farmers in all of England can access free, in person advice on water quality. CSF officers, based locally, will be ideally placed to help farmers understand the water quality priorities of their area, such as bathing waters at risk of agricultural pollution. In areas draining into bathing waters, such advice will help farmers choose the incentive, grant and voluntary based actions that will best achieve bathing water quality standards.