Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made in improving the status of surface and groundwater bodies under the Water Framework Directive.

Management of the water environment is a devolved matter. The information provided below is for England.

We have seen great improvements in water quality over the last 25 years. Species such as salmon, sea trout and otter, common in many English rivers today, were then a very rare sight. We have enhanced over 1400 miles of surface water towards our target of nearly 5000 miles by 2021. Groundwater too is improving, with a predicted 56% of groundwater bodies reaching good chemical status and 75% good quantitative status by 2021.

Our 2015 River Basin Management Plans confirm over £3 billion investment in the water environment over six years, leading to at least 680 improved surface water bodies in England, with increased fish populations and reduced pollution, by 2021.