River Health and Restoring Public Trust
Today the UK Water Partnership releases its latest white paper titled ‘River Health & Restoring Public Trust’. Produced for UKWP by AECOM, ARC Limited, and Northumbria University, it sets out a bold and collaborative roadmap to restore our rivers and rebuild trust.
Our rivers are deemed to be in crisis. Pollution from sewage, farming, industrial and urban runoff is perceived to be choking our waterways, and public trust in those they feel are responsible for our rivers is at an all-time low. The public isn’t just watching – they’re demanding change.
It should be no surprise that trust in the management of the UK’s water environment is at a historic low. As rivers face mounting pressures from pollution, climate change, and fragmented governance, confidence in those responsible for protecting these vital ecosystems has steadily eroded.
The report is a call for action. In the report we set out three recommendations to all stakeholders – regulators, water companies, industry, agriculture, highways agencies and urban planners, environmental groups, and national and local government departments – outlining the need to take swift, decisive action to address both the impacts we are having on river health and the trust in those responsible for our water environment.
You can read the white paper published in our publications tab: River Health and Restoring Public Trust – The UK Water Partnership. If you have any questions about the content, please get in touch with secretariat@theukwaterpartnership.org
Notes to editors:
About UKWP: The UK Water Partnership was established in 2015 to provide a strategic vision for the development and growth of the UK water industry. It brings together a wide cross section of UK water sector stakeholders in a single coherent alliance to support research excellence, promote collaborative innovation.
About the authors: Adrian Rees is Director at Adrian Rees Consulting Ltd & Partner at AliumBlue LLP, Dr. Lauren Macmillen is a Lecturer at the School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics, Northumbria University, Dr. Jim Marshall is an Associate Director at AECOM