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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of (a) the levels of pollution in the River Exe and (b) what the sources of this pollution are.

This government is committed to tackling pollution. The Water (Special Measures) Bill, announced during the King’s Speech, delivers on our manifesto commitment to put water companies under tough special measures and begin the work of cleaning up our waterways.

Water quality assessments are underpinned by Environment Agency monitoring programmes, focussing upon a broad range of biological, chemical and physico-chemical parameters. Monitoring and assessment are undertaken throughout the River Exe catchment, from the headwaters on Exmoor, to the bathing waters at Exmouth and Dawlish Warren. Water quality data is publicly available via Ecology and Fish Data Explorer and Open WIMS. These data are assessed against standards set under the Water Environment Regulations (WER) and Bathing Water Regulations, and are published on Catchment Data Explorer.

In the River Exe catchment, there are 27 waterbodies. Of these, 10 are at good ecological status (under WER), 16 at moderate status and one at poor status. This equates to 37% of waterbodies in the River Exe catchment achieving good or higher status, compared to 16% nationally. Bathing waters at Exmouth and Dawlish Warren received a classification of ‘Excellent’ in 2023.

I would refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament