Chemical cocktail of sewage, slurry and plastic coursing through Worcestershire's rivers

An interactive map created by The Rivers Trust reveals the concerning state of the rivers in the county.

Almost all the rivers and their sources - including the Severn, Teme, Salwarpe and Avon - were rated as either moderate or poor following ecological checks in 2019. 

As shown by a picture of the map below, the lighter red lines represent rivers deemed in moderate condition, while the darker lines show rivers which were found to be poor.

In fact, just a small section of the waterway in Elmley Castle, a source to the River Avon, was rated good out of the county's vast network.

The full map can be found, here.

The interactive map put together by The Rivers Trust.

This comes after a new report published on Thursday by the Environmental Audit Committee which said only 14% of English rivers meet good ecological status.

It added it has been tricky to get a complete overview of the health of rivers due to “outdated, underfunded and inadequate monitoring” and until the passing of the Environment Act last year, there had been a “lack of political will” to improve water quality.

Some of the issues the group has raised includes river quality monitoring not identifying microplastics, persistent chemical pollutants or antimicrobial resistant pathogens flowing through rivers.

In December, Severn Trent was fined £1.5 million for discharging sewage into Worcestershire's watercourses. 

Prosecuters told of how the company failed to respond to alarms at its works in Blackminster near Evesham warning of sewage discharge.

A blockage caused about 360,000 litres of sewage to be illegally discharged to the nearby Broadway Brook.

Environmental Audit committee chairman Philip Dunne said: “Rivers are the arteries of nature and must be protected.

"Our inquiry has uncovered multiple failures in the monitoring, governance and enforcement on water quality.

"For too long, the Government, regulators and the water industry have allowed a Victorian sewerage system to buckle under increasing pressure.

“Today, we are calling for these relevant bodies to come together and develop a system fit for the future.

"Monitoring regimes need to be reviewed, enforcement needs to be ramped up, and even public awareness needs boosting on what can and cannot be poured down drains or flushed down the toilet."

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said the Government welcomed the report and was going “further and faster than any other government to protect and enhance the health of rivers and seas”.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "The EA has launched a major investigation into possible unauthorised spills at thousands of sewage treatment works, secured fines of over £137 million since 2015 for pollution incidents and placed new requirements on water companies to significantly increase their monitoring and reporting so that everyone can see what is happening."