Five new research projects will investigate how pollution impacts UK rivers. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) says that as a result, the majority of UK rivers fail to have good ecological status. Researchers have been awarded funding by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Defra from the £8.4 million Understanding changes in quality of UK Freshwaters programme. While studies across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and north and west England will look at how livestock farming, its waste and sewage, and mitigation practices changes UK water quality. The programme’s Freshwater Quality Champions, Professor Pippa Chapman and Professor Joseph Holden, from the University of Leeds, said: “There are huge water quality pressures on UK rivers.

Source: The Herald November 26, 2022 12:25 UTC