Recommendation 74

Responsibility for improving water quality in rivers cannot be laid solely at the door of the water industry. The project to restore all rivers in England to good health will require the engagement and collaboration of a wide range of stakeholders—from farmers to local authorities, and from product manufacturers to food outlets. At the riverside, it will require concerted action from a range of stakeholders collaborating across each catchment, including farmers, the water industry, housing developers, local authorities and citizen groups. The Catchment Based Approach partnerships provide a useful forum for this coordination: we consider that Ministers should examine means to increase the funding and resources available to them so as to achieve more effective coordination of all stakeholders across each river catchment in measures to improve water quality.