Debate on water quality in Kent

A debate has been scheduled in Westminster Hall on 29 April 2026 to consider water quality in Kent. The debate will be opened by Tony Vaughan MP.

Water quality in England

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has overarching responsibility for the water environment. The Environment Agency (EA), the environmental regulator, is responsible for monitoring water quality, and for regulating discharges and environmental permitting activities that may impact this water quality.

Policy direction on water quality is also set though The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017, which are assimilated from previous EU legislation. These regulations set targets for rivers and the sea to meet ‘good status’ by 2027.

More information about the regulation of the water sector in general is set out in the Library research briefing Economic regulation of the water industry.

Rivers

The EA is responsible for monitoring the state of the water environment in England, and for regulating polluting activities that might impact this water quality. It also monitors compliance with the Water Framework Directive (WFD) regulations.

The EA reports on a series of long-term indicators of river quality. Broadly, nutrient loading of orthosphosphate (used to prevent water supply dissolving lead pipes), nitrate, ammonia and biochemical oxygen demand (high BOD results in oxygen depletion, with negative impacts for aquatic life) substantially reduced between 1990 and 2023. Pollution loads from water company sewage treatment works have decreased, as have nitrogen and phosphate additions from agriculture and concentrations of all dissolved metals.

The EA also determines the classification of water bodies under the WFD. It does so by assessing biology, physio-chemistry and hydromorphology. Water bodies with ‘high’ or ‘good’ ecological status with support a diverse range of aquatic invertebrates, fish, mammals and birds.

In 2019, under the most recent cycle of reporting, 16% of rivers in England met the threshold for ‘high’ or ‘good’ ecological status under the WFD regulations. 62% were classified as having ‘moderate’ ecological status, requiring monitoring and management to prevent further deterioration and move to ‘good’ status. 19% were classified as ‘poor’, showing significant changes from natural status, and 3% as ‘bad’, indicating critical ecological degredation.

More recent EA data on river quality is presented as part of its Environmental Indicator Framework reporting under Theme B (Water). Additionally, Defra’s interactive Water Quality Explorer provides data on water quality measurements carried out by the EA.

Bathing waters

Defra also monitors designated bathing waters to ensure that these comply with The Bathing Water (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2025. As with the WFD regulations, this assimilated EU legislation.

Bathing waters are designated areas of coastal or inland water that meet specified criteria on number of users and access requirements as set out by Defra. The 2025 classifications indicate that 92.9% of England’s designated bathing waters achieved an ‘excellent’, ‘good’ or ‘sufficient’ classification, with 66.1% rated ‘excellent’.

More recent EA data on bathing water quality is presented as part of weekly assessments made during bathing water season, between May to September. These assessments measure water quality and pollution risk. Additionally, the Swimfo tool allows users to look up a designated bathing water by name or location.

Sources of water environment pollution

Pollution of the water environment stems from multiple sources. Both the farming and water sectors are major contributors to nutrient pollution, increasing the concentrations of both nitrates and phosphates in rivers and the sea (contributing to eutrophication and degradation of aquatic environments).

Reporting under the WFD regulations, agriculture and rural land management (notably, pollution from fertiliser or livestock) contributed to 62% of rivers failing to meet good ecological status, while the water industry (pollution from treated and untreated sewage discharges, as well as over-abstraction of groundwater) contributed to 52% of failures. Water quality monitoring for the sea is not as extensive for rivers, but failure to meet bathing water ‘sufficient’ classification has often been attributed to the presence of harmful faecal indicator bacteria that are often signals of sewage pollution.

More information about these sources of pollution is set out in the British Ecological Society’s report Delivering biodiversity: priority actions for fresh water, commissioned by the Defra, and in the Commons Library briefing on Sewage discharges. Additionally, the EA publishes data on the frequency and duration of storm overflow spills of sewage, as monitored by event duration monitors.

Water quality in Kent

Kent is host to numerous rivers and a long coastline, stretching from Dartford to Dungeness.

Defra’s river catchment explorer showsseveral water bodies in Kent have been classified as having ‘moderate’ or ‘poor’ ecological status. The Upper Darent catchment is classified as having ‘moderate’ ecological status, with recorded reasons including pressures from livestock and agriculture, as well as physical modifications of the river. The Medway at Weir Wood catchment is also classified as having ‘moderate’ ecological status, although it received a ‘poor’ classification for phosphate, indicating high nutrient loading. All of the river catchment areas within the Kent East Coast operational catchment are classified as having ‘moderate’ ecological status.

From Defra and the EA’s bathing water classification explorer, bathing waters can be sorted by county. In 2025, of the designated bathing waters across Kent, 15 achieved a classification of ‘excellent’, nine were ‘good’, three ‘sufficient’, and one ‘poor’.

Water reforms

It has been widely recognised that the existing legislative and regulatory framework for the water system in England is insufficient to address many of the challenges that the water environment faces, with numerous campaigns focusing on pollution and poor regulation. The Office for Environmental Protection, the government’s independent environmental watchdog, has identified “deeply concerning” issues with how the laws in place to protect England’s rivers and seas are being put into practice, highlighting specifically issues with implementation. The government responded to the OEP, noting that it would announce plans to reset the water sector.

Following the general election in July 2024, the government announced initial steps to “clean up the water industry”. These steps included immediate measures, such as ringfencing investment in water infrastructure, and plans for longer-term measures, such as introducing new legislation (the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, which provided new powers to water industry regulators) and launching a wider Independent Commission to review water sector regulation.

In January 2026, the government published its water white paper, A new vision for water, which set out its response to the Independent Commission’s final report and the government’s plan to “overhaul the water system”. More information about the white paper is set out in the Library insight, Water reform: "A new vision for water".

In a statement in the House of Commons, the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, set out the actions outlined in the white paper, including plans for a new single regulator and wider policy reforms, and confirmed that the white paper would be followed by a 2026 Transition Plan and a Water Reform Bill, which is expected in the May 2026 King’s Speech.