Call for households to keep plastic out of drains because nine in ten rivers in England fail pollution levels

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Nine in ten rivers in England are failing environmental quality standards because of plastic pollution.

While attention has focused on oceans, officials fear the problem is often closer to home.

The Environment Agency has called on households to keep plastic ‘out of our drains’ as fragments end up in rivers.

Officials said freshwater pollution ‘should not be overlooked’. Plastic packaging, drinks bottles and microplastics which come from homes and businesses threaten to harm and entangle wildlife and can pick up dangerous toxins.

Nine in ten rivers in England are failing environmental quality standards because of plastic pollution

The warning comes in a report which revealed that nearly nine out of 10 rivers in England fail to meet standards for good environmental quality.

Plastic pollution is given as a future threat to rivers, according to the report, which stated: ‘Plastics can also act as a reservoir for toxic chemicals - these and plastic-breakdown products have the potential to enter the food chain and bio-accumulate in marine and freshwater life.’

In a summary of action which must be taken, it added: ‘The public and businesses must do more to keep plastics, fats and household chemicals out of our drains.’

Last year pictures emerged of an otter in Dorset with a plastic cable around its neck, while the RSPCA last week warned about litter after having to put down a duck with a plastic ring slicing into its head and beak.

Charity Thames 21 last year found 277 wet wipes in just 10 square feet (one square metre) of the London river’s shore.

The Environment Agency has invested £750,000 to set up a plastic pollution team in the south west of England, similar to those which have tackled bathing water quality on beaches.

It said fewer single-use plastics should be used by households and businesses in its ‘state of the environment report’.

The document states: ‘Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5mm in size. They enter water bodies from domestic and industrial sources, as well as from urban run-off, and also result from the breakdown of larger plastic debris. Plastic waste is visually unappealing and can harm animals through entanglement and ingestion.’

While attention has focused on oceans, officials fear the problem is often closer to home

In 2016, three-quarters of the tests the Environment Agency had taken to measure the health of rivers were rated good.

But only 14 per cent of rivers reached the standard of ‘good ecological status’ overall, because if one test comes back as a failure, the whole water body fails to obtain good or better status.

Publishing the report, agency chairwoman Emma Howard Boyd said there were ‘too many serious pollution incidents’ which could harm wildlife, the environment and people, with 317 recorded in 2016.

She called for tougher penalties for polluters, and for farmers and water companies to do more to protect England’s precious water resources.