River and Bathing Water Results in Lancashire
2005

October 2006, updated June 2007

Glasson Marina

Photograph of Glasson Marina

The article uses information derived from the (External) Environment Agency's website which can be found by going to the section for the (External) North West Region . The information is presented in two tables and covers Waterways and Bathing water quality.

Table 1 highlights the percentages of Good, Fair, Poor or Bad waterways in Lancashire Districts, 2005, as assessed by the Environment Agency chemistry General Quality Assessment (GQA). Total waterways per District vary dramatically across the authority from just 0.2 kilometres in Blackpool (lowest in the North West) to over 200 km in the rural Ribble Valley district.

In total, Table 1 has details for 1,131.3 kilometres of waterways in the 14 Lancashire authorities, which represents 20.8% of the North West total.

For the North West as a whole in 2005, 92% of rivers were of good or fair chemical quality, which means that they have low levels of organic pollution and adequate levels of oxygen.

All six East Lancashire authorities of Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale only contained rivers in the Good or Fair chemical quality standard, whilst the tiny river length for Blackpool also achieved the same standard. The percentage of Lancashire rivers achieving the 'Good' standard was however low in comparison to the North West average of 62.6%. Only Ribble Valley District with 88.4%, and Lancaster with 71.7% (the two authorities with by far the longest stretches of rivers) were above the regional average.

Table 1 Quality of Waterways by Lancashire District, 2005

Percentage of Waterways Classed as...
Total Length of Waterways (km)
Good
Fair
Poor
Bad

Burnley
55.6
44.4
0.0
0.0
49.1
Chorley
33.1
60.6
6.4
0.0
97.5
Fylde
0.0
82.1
17.9
0.0
33.9
Hyndburn
48.7
51.3
0.0
0.0
40.1
Lancaster
71.7
25.2
3.1
0.0
195.9
Pendle
41.4
58.6
0.0
0.0
63.1
Preston
27.2
66.4
6.5
0.0
69.1
Ribble Valley
88.4
11.6
0.0
0.0
200.3
Rossendale
54.2
45.8
0.0
0.0
45.3
South Ribble
16.2
60.9
18.2
4.7
42.1
West Lancashire
27.4
54.7
17.9
0.0
144.9
Wyre
46.2
43.6
10.2
0.0
104.9

Blackburn with Darwen UA
26.6
73.4
0.0
0.0
44.9
Blackpool UA
0.0
100.0
0.0
0.0
0.2

North West
62.6
29.4
6.5
1.5
5,428.0
Source Environment Agency Bridge over the River Ribble at Ribchester

Photograph of the bridge over the River Ribble at Ribchester

Of the six authorities that recorded poor river quality results, four recorded rates higher than the North West average of 6.5%. Although South Ribble recoded the highest percentage in Lancashire (18.2%), the rate for West Lancashire (17.9%) was based on a much longer river length of 144.9 km.

South Ribble District was the only Lancashire authority to have a proportion of its river length classified under the 'Bad' water heading (4.7%). This represented just under 2 kilometres of rivers in the authority and equates to around 0.18% of all Lancashire rivers. The North West percentage of bad river quality (1.5%) is underpinned by some particularly high rates in Knowsley (32.9%), Wirral (25.3%), Barrow-in-Furness (14.4%) and Warrington (14.6%).

The Source of Pollution

Many human activities and their by-products have the potential to pollute water. Large and small industrial enterprises, the water industry, the urban infrastructure, agriculture, horticulture, transport, discharges from abandoned mines, and deliberate or accidental pollution incidents all affect water quality. Pollution may arise at point source, such as discharges through pipes, or may be more dispersed and diffuse. Both sources may be exacerbated by adverse weather conditions.

Bathing Water

The Environment Agency states that it samples North West beaches approximately 20 times per week between May and September, to assess the performance against bacteriological standards laid down in the EC Bathing Water Directive.

The North West coast is bounded by the Irish Sea. Although relatively small (it has only about 6% of the volume of the North Sea), the Irish Sea receives significant inputs of contaminants from direct discharges along its coasts, and from diffuse agricultural and urban sources. Through a multi-million pound European funding stream, the Environment Agency has worked with international partners to improve coastal and recreational waters.

Until recently, discharges from wastewater treatment works and combined sewer overflows were the primary source of bacteriological pollution for most of the North West's bathing waters. Improvements to how sewage is treated and moved around the region have helped to reduce these sources of contamination. Nowadays, pollution from diffuse sources such as run-off from agricultural land and run-off from urban areas are still a problem, particularly in wet weather.

Table 2 Bathing Water Quality at Lancashire Beaches, 1993-2006

2006
2005
2003
2001
1999
1997
1995
1993

St Annes Pier