River Action UK

Who we are

Our Rivers are in Crisis

The impact of intense agricultural practices from industries such as dairy, maize and egg production have left virtually all the UK’s rivers polluted beyond their legal limits. In addition, the combination of repeated discharges of untreated sewage from water companies are harming the river’s ecosystems.

Threats to the biological diversity of waterways are pandemic, with many of our rivers now facing environmental challenges that threaten the very sustainability of their ecosystems.

Collaboration is Key

We work actively in partnership with other NGOs and environmental activist groups on a river by river, catchment by catchment basis.

We are also the principal coordinator of a nationwide campaign to promote the restoration of the funding of government agencies across the UK tasked with the environmental protection of our rivers. The aim is to ensure that the monitoring of water quality and the inspection and prosecution of polluting industries is significantly increased.

Our resources are drawn from the expertise and experience of a number of individuals and organisations from across the world of environment/conservation, politics, science, the investment community, the communications & PR industry and the legal profession.

How We Work

We help create noise in the business world, across the political sphere, and by empowering and amplifying the work of other activists and allies. We promote awareness and education of the causes of environmental malpractice by the food industry and other polluters and by advancing knowledge on river pollution mitigation measures.

About us

Our purpose is to apply pressure on industrial and agricultural producers to take greater responsibility for remedying the adverse environmental impact their supply chains are having on the health of our rivers.

Time for Change

While many farmers across the country are exemplary custodians of nature, sadly this is not always the case. It takes only one major slurry spill to kill the ecosystem of a river – and there is undeniable evidence that environmental regulations are being broken regularly across the UK’s agricultural sector.

We believe:

• Food production companies must step up and assume their share of responsibility for the environmental compliance of their supply chains and – where necessary – contribute financially to supporting farmers in achieving this.
• Those organisations that are complicit in river pollution must be exposed and publicly required to disclose measures to mitigate and address river pollution in their supply chains.
• The UK’s environmental protection agencies must be adequately funded by the Government to enforce regulations and penalise offenders.