Increased temperatures harming fish and wildlife in UK's rivers
With just 14 per cent of the country's rivers in good ecological health, the high temperatures have amplified nitrate and ammonia pollution, showing that global warming is placing 'severe stress' on Britain's waterways.
The Angling Trust said that river temperatures in England and Wales between March and June were the hottest since records began three years ago.
So far in 2025, the organisation have already recorded 87 fish kills, which refers to a spate of localised deaths, due to pollution, low oxygen and natural factors.
They have also confirmed 36 incidents of low flows, which reduces river levels and concentrates pollution, while fish rescues have already been needed on the River Teme at Stanage and River Redlake at Bucknall.
All four nations in the UK have recorded their warmest spring since records began in 1884, and has also been recorded as the sixth-driest since 1836 with only a small amount of rainfall in June.
The report by the group's Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN) found high levels of nitrate pollution, with 53 per cent of samples containing above 5ppm, compared to only a minority of samples in previous years.
This is known to fuel the spread of algae, known as algal blooms, which can kill freshwater life.
Toxic ammonia levels also hit its highest levels in 2025, with 5.4 per cent of ammonia tests failing to meet good ecological standards, up from 2.2 per cent in 2023.
The organisation, which has seen 800 volunteers submit over 10,000 pollution monitoring samples, has said that this combination of record warmth and drought has caused treated sewage, urban discharge and farm runoff to concentrate in rivers.
'These results are a wake-up call to tackle the double impact of river pollution and climate change,' said Stuart Singleton-White, Head of Campaigns at the Angling Trust.
'We urgently need to see much tougher regulation resulting in immediate reductions in river pollution, goals for 2030 are too little too late.'
The Environment Agency told The Times: 'We take all reports of environmental pollution seriously. We have expanded where we monitor and expanded the diversity of data we collect in recent years. Last year we collected over 99,000 water quality samples.'
It comes as Yorkshire Water announce the first hosepipe ban from Friday, with restrictions on watering the garden, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools as the company aims to conserve water.
Customers who ignore the hosepipe ban could face fines of up to £1,000.
Experts warn human-caused climate change is driving increasingly extreme weather such as hotter drier summers, and making heatwaves such as those seen recently, which can push up water use just as supplies are scarce, more intense and frequent.
A drought was declared by the Environment Agency across Yorkshire in June, while the North West of England entered drought status in May – though the region's water company United Utilities said on Tuesday it had no plans to announce a similar hosepipe ban.
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Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Here comes the heat! Amber alert warning in the south of England as 'killer' heatwave peaks at 32C and second hosepipe ban to hit one million Brits
An amber health alert has been issued for the south of England as a second hosepipe ban is set to hit one million Brits. The mercury is expected to rocket to 32C today in parts of central and southern England with the East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East and South West under amber alert. The UK Health Security Agency (UKSHA) upgraded their previously yellow heat health warning to an amber one in these areas today with the North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber to be covered by a yellow heat health alert from midday. Their website warns rising temperatures will have 'significant impacts' including 'a rise in deaths' - particularly among those aged 65 and above or with health conditions. The UKSHA predicts an 'increased demand on all health and social care services' and that the heat will have an impact on 'the ability of the workforce to deliver services'. The alert comes into effect at 12pm today (Friday) and will continue until 9am on Monday, following two other amber alerts issued in consecutive weeks at the end of June amid two separate heatwaves. The alert for the first heatwave on June 19 was the first time an amber alert had been issued since September 2023. It comes as a second hosepipe ban has been introduced in Kent and Sussex with thousands of customers in Yorkshire already restricting their water usage. Bournemouth beach was full of families enjoying the hot weather on Friday Those supplied by South East Water will not be able to use their hosepipes for any reason from July 18. The company said the region has endured its driest spring since 1893 and has had to supply up to 680million litres of water in 24 hours as temperatures soar, adding: 'This situation has left us with no choice but to restrict the use of hosepipes and sprinklers, so we can help our reservoirs and underground water storage recover.' South East Water added that it will prosecute those who disobey the ban by slapping them with fines of up to £1,000. Meanwhile, a hosepipe ban begins today in Yorkshire as the third heatwave of the summer heads towards temperatures of 33C. Yorkshire Water has placed a ban on using hosepipes for activities such as watering the garden, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools in an attempt to protect water supplies in the face of yet more dry weather. Similar to its southern counterpart, it means customers are banned from using a hosepipe to water gardens and plants, clean vehicles, fill swimming pools or ponds or clean paths, walls or windows. Customers flouting the ban could face fines of up to £1,000, but the company has said 'we hope it won't come to that' as it urged households to help conserve water by sticking to the restrictions. The new ban, which will affect more than 5.7million homes in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and North Lincolnshire, comes after 80 firefighters were called to tackle a grass fire yesterday in Rainham, Essex. London Fire Brigade said about ten hectares of grass and shrubland were destroyed in the blaze on Rainham Road, the cause of which is being investigated. Meanwhile, temperatures in Northern Ireland are set to reach around 25C over the weekend. Data from the Met Office forecasts temperatures to reach 26C and to rise over the coming days. Water Safety Ireland urged anyone visiting the beach to enter the water slowly. It said: 'Whether you're swimming, surfing, or paddleboarding, make safety your top priority. 'Enter the water slowly to avoid cold water shock. Supervise children and hold their hand near water. Never use inflatables in open water.' Across the Irish Sea, central Scotland will see temperatures soar to 28C with its capital Edinburgh baking in 27C. As the country prepares for the very warm weather, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution has urged families to put safety first. The RNLI urged people to visit a lifeguarded beach and swim between the red and yellow flag, to check the weather forecast and tide times, and to read local hazard signage to understand local risks. In agreement, the Health and Safety Executive added that the people most at risk during hot weather include babies, young children, people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions, including heart and breathing problems as well as Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Those who spend a lot of time outside or in hot places - such as those who work outdoors or the homeless - are also at high risk. Their advice for staying cool indoors is to turn off the lights, close windows that face the sun and open them only at night when temperatures drop. While outdoors, people should stay in the shade and regularly apply a UVA and UVB water-resistant sunscreen to skin that is not covered. Factor 30-plus should be used for adults while 50-plus should be applied on children. People are also advised to drink plenty of fluids. Water or oral rehydration sachets are considered the best option. Diving in headfirst! Family enjoys day out at Clevedon's open-air swimming pool as temperatures peak to 32C While residents in Yorkshire and Sussex are being encouraged to conserve water, exceptions include using hosepipes to clean animals and fill drinking troughs. People can still wash their car and water their gardens using tap water from a bucket or watering can, while businesses will be allowed to use a hosepipe if it is directly related to an essential commercial purpose - but not for other uses such as cleaning paths outside a business property. And they're not the only ones, with Thames Water revealing this week that it would impose a hosepipe ban after 'ongoing dry weather and increased customer demand' unless the situation 'changes significantly'. The forecast for the coming days suggests temperatures could reach 32C in parts of central and southern England on Friday and are expected to remain high into the weekend, with a yellow heat health alert in place for all regions in England until July 15. The alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency, warns of the potential for a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over, or with health conditions, because of the heat. In Birmingham the body of a teenage boy was found in a lake yesterday after a huge search operation in a popular water park. Emergency services descended on Powell's Pool, a large body of water on the edge of the park near the Boldmere area of Sutton Coldfield at around 9pm following reports a boy had gone missing. Boat crews were seen on the water and the emergency services continued to work after dark, using torches to search the pool. West Midlands Police are supporting the family of the boy and were not treating the death as suspicious after people flocked to Sutton Park to try and escape the heat. Possible highs of 33C on Saturday mean the third heatwave will fall short of the top temperatures recorded earlier in July, but will be more widespread, Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said. 'For the next three days or so, high pressure is in charge across the UK, bringing in relatively settled conditions,' Mr Snell said 'For most of the UK, it will be dry, sunny and warm. The temperatures will probably peak either Friday or Saturday, with highs potentially of 32C or 33C. 'As we go into Sunday, the eastern half of the UK might start to just cool down a tad. It's still going to be very warm, but could jump down a degree or two. 'In the second half of the weekend some coastal areas, like the North Sea coast, may turn a little bit murky at times, but the weekend is generally hot and sunny for most parts of the country. 'That will obviously come with very high UV levels for most of us and also very high grass pollen levels, so not great news for hayfever sufferers.' The 35.8C (78.4F) at Faversham in Kent on July 1 during the second heatwave of 2025 was the UK's hottest day in three years. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has urged people to drink water regularly, seek shade and use sunscreen. Steve Cole, policy director at RoSPA, said: 'Heat is no longer just a holiday perk, it's a growing public health risk. 'We're seeing more frequent and intense heatwaves, both in the UK and globally, and the data shows a clear rise in heat-related illness and fatalities.' Temperatures will fall slightly by Monday, with highs of 28C expected in London and 'fresher' conditions in the north of England, with highs between 20C and 24C. Rain could come in 'showers and thunderstorms', Mr Snell said, most likely in northern England. The rain would be a relief for water companies after reservoir levels fell at nearly three-quarters of sites during June and are below average in all regions, with storage at four sites classed as 'exceptionally low'. These are Blagdon in Somerset (62 per cent), Blithfield in Staffordshire (59 per cent), Derwent Valley in Derbyshire (58 per cent) and Yorkshire Supply Group (55 per cent). The Environment Agency has also declared a state of 'prolonged dry weather' in large parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey - meaning a heightened risk of drought. Thames Water said daily demand in Swindon and Oxfordshire peaked during the UK's last heatwave on June 30 at a level not seen since in the 2022 drought. People are being encouraged to take shorter showers, turn the tap off while brushing teeth and letting their lawn go dry to help reduce big increases in demand. Water bosses also warned that the extended warm weather was bringing 'increased risks of leaks and bursts due to pipe stress and shifting foundations in the ground'.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Heatwave set to peak with highs of more than 34C, with warning of potential rise in deaths
The third heatwave to hit the UK this summer is set to peak on Saturday, forecasters have said, with highs of more than 34C possible in some areas. Amber heat health alerts are in place for the Midlands and southern and eastern England until 9am on Monday, warning of a potential rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. Temperatures hit 34.7C at Astwood Bank, near Worcester, on Friday, according to the Met Office, with similar or even higher temperatures expected on Saturday. 2:17 "It might be plus or minus half a degree higher or lower (on Saturday), probably maybe a little bit higher, but that's going to be the peak as then temperatures start coming down a little bit through the second half of the weekend as low pressure slowly starts to edge in," meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said. Fire chiefs have warned people to stay safe, while cautioning of the increased risks of wildfires and drowning during the heatwave. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) asked people not to enter water to try to cool down and urged parents and carers to ensure children are supervised around water at all times. HM Coastguard also issued safety advice for people heading to the coast, saying data from the water incident database shows over the last three years most drownings occurred in July. Although temperatures may peak on Saturday, it will remain "very warm" across the country on Sunday, the Met Office said. "We're probably looking at maximum temperatures around 30C, 31C degrees across central and southern England, but still widely across the whole UK, mid to high 20s," Mr Dewhurst said. "It could still get to around 29 or 30C across southeast England on Monday, and then everyone into the fresher air by Tuesday, temperatures more like 23C, 24C as the maximum temperature." In addition to the amber alerts, the UK Health Security Agency also has yellow alerts in place until Monday for the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and Humber. On Friday Yorkshire Water brought in hosepipe restrictions, as part of efforts to protect supplies in the face of further dry weather forecast for the coming weeks. It means customers in Kent and Sussex are banned from using a hosepipe to water gardens and plants, clean vehicles, fill swimming pool or ponds or to clean paths, walls or windows, with anyone ignoring the ban potentially facing fines of up to £1,000.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
England's reservoirs at lowest level for a decade as experts call for hosepipe bans
England's reservoirs are at their lowest levels for a decade, new data reveals, as experts urge water companies to immediately put hosepipe bans in place. In June, reservoirs across the country were 76% full, which is below their level in the severe drought year of 2022 when they were at 77% capacity at this time in the summer. Levels continue to drop dramatically as the hot weather has caused an increased demand for water and there has been very little rain to refill reservoirs. Experts have warned water companies to implement hosepipe bans across the country. Dr Jess Neumann, an associate professor in hydrology at the University of Reading, said: 'Following an unseasonably dry spring reservoir levels across parts of the country are falling to critically low levels. 'Water companies need to be proactive. Hosepipe bans can save 3%-7% of daily water use as long as the public are onboard with the need to conserve water. Hosepipe bans have the additional advantage of increasing awareness of water scarcity and stress amongst communities, further encouraging mindful water use.' Dr Jonathan Paul, from the department of Earth sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, added: 'Reservoir levels are directly linked to rainfall, so local restrictions on water use (like hosepipe bans) might be necessary to stabilise them.' Yorkshire Water this week introduced hosepipe restrictions after the region recorded its driest spring in 132 years. South East Water on Friday also announced a hosepipe ban for more than one million people in Kent and Sussex. Water bosses have been reluctant to implement hosepipe bans because it affects customer satisfaction ratings, sources at the government's national drought group have told the Guardian. These ratings, collected by the regulator, contribute to a water company's performance report. Sources at the drought group, which convenes regularly to discuss the response to droughts, said the companies were waiting 'until the very last moment' to put bans in place. Rivers are at low levels already, and further abstraction could risk environmental damage. Environment Agency officials have been advising the environment secretary, Steve Reed, on whether water company drought plans are sufficient. They said water companies should follow their drought plans and hosepipe bans should be in place prior to any permits for extra river abstraction, and in place long enough to have the opportunity to have a measurable impact on reducing customer demand. In some areas of the country where no hosepipe bans are in place, farmers have been severely restricted from irrigating their land. The National Farmers' Union president, Tom Bradshaw, has said this was 'risking food production', particularly in East Anglia where many farms are based. The county had exceptionally low rainfall this spring, the third lowest on record since 1871, with reservoir and groundwater levels dropping. There is no hosepipe ban in place for residents, yet farmers have been struggling to water their crops. Bradshaw told the Guardian: 'Abstraction bans have already been implemented in Norfolk with no prior engagement or warning. It seems ridiculous when there is no official drought or hosepipe ban.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The regions at most risk of running out of water at the moment are those which rely largely on reservoirs rather than groundwater. The wet autumn and winter of 2024-25 allowed the country's aquifers – the water below ground – to recharge, so parts of the south-east, where the soil is chalk and the aquifers recharge more rapidly, are in a better position than those in the Midlands and north. However, more dry weather could cause aquifer levels to begin to dwindle as well, and groundwater levels are already below normal across much of the country. The most recent outlook from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology says: 'The outlook for July indicates that groundwater levels are likely to remain normal to below normal across most areas, with notably or exceptionally low levels expected to persist in some areas.' Neumann added: 'Pressures on water supply are not limited to UK regions principally reliant on reservoirs, but are also impacting areas where supply is fed from groundwater sources such as the central and south east. This is concerning as groundwater stores are not as quickly replenished [as rivers and reservoirs] when the rains do eventually come.' The prolonged dry spring and summer coupled with hot weather, which increases consumer water use, has caused reservoir levels in midland and northern areas of the country to drop dramatically. Severn Trent's reservoir levels have dropped from 83.5% on 23 May to 71.1% on 30 June, while United Utilities reservoir levels are currently at 65% when last year at this time they were at 84.5%. Yorkshire's reservoirs are at 55.8%, down more than a quarter on what they would normally be at this time of year. Last year the government and water companies announced proposals to build nine new reservoirs by 2050. No major reservoirs have been completed in England since 1992, shortly after the water sector was privatised. A Water UK spokesperson said: 'Water companies do everything possible to avoid restrictions on customers, including by moving water around their region and surging activity on leakage. However, when government-mandated trigger levels are reached then unfortunately a temporary use ban needs to be imposed.' A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson said: 'Rapid population growth, crumbling infrastructure and a warming climate mean without urgent action, Britain could run out of drinking water. We have taken swift and decisive action to secure £104bn of private sector investment to build nine reservoirs and new pipes to cut leaks.'
