28/04/11
Defra funding of £110 million for England's rivers will build upon significant improvements in water quality of recent years, including large-scale water company investment in wastewater treatment and measures to protect freshwater and shellfish habitats.
The government funding will help improve the health of more than 880 lakes, streams and other waters, using a catchment-based approach towards achieving good ecological status for all water bodies by December 2015, required by the European Water Framework Directive.
The money will be shared between a number of organisations, including Natural England and the Environment Agency, and a Catchment Restoration fund that will co-fund new local projects.
Some of the money will be available to farmers to take measures to reduce agricultural pollution. We welcome this funding and fully support its aims which, as an added benefit, will contribute to the protection of water supplies from diffuse pollution. We hope such funding will continue well into the future.
Rivers "cleanest for over a century"
Water UK press release, September 2010
