River & Lake Pollution Inside UK National Parks Twice As Bad As Pollution In Waters Beyond Their Boundaries

Sewage is pouring into the rivers inside national parks at twice the rate that is occurring outside the protected areas, it can be revealed. Campaigners described the situation as “outrageous” and said rivers and lakes in national parks in England and Wales should be the cleanest and most protected in the country. There are 464 water company overflow sites inside national parks and the average duration of sewage spills for each site in 2024 was 549 hours – the equivalent of eight hours a day for two months. In total, there were 254,808 hours of sewage outflows in national parks last year.

A report by the Campaign for National Parks (CNP) and the Rivers Trust also found that more than half of the rivers in national parks failed to meet the good ecological status required by law. Slurry and fertiliser runoff from farms and toxic pesticides also contributed to the ailing state of the bodies of water. The national parks worst affected by sewage overflows were Dartmoor, the South Downs, the Broads and Eryri, also known as Snowdonia.

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One reason for the disparity is that sewage treatment works deemed to be serving fewer than 2,000 people are not legally required to use “secondary treatment”, which removes organic matter, and therefore offer only basic water treatment. The report found only 42% of water bodies in the national parks were classed as having good ecological status. That was better than the 12% of rivers in healthy condition outside national parks.

But with 57% of rivers in national parks failing to meet the minimum, legally required state, “there is still a hell of a long way to go”, said Gareth Ludkin at the CNP. “The [sewage infrastructure] is no longer adequate, and probably never has been, for large influxes of people visiting the parks – it’s just out of date and defunct.” The South Downs is the national park most affected by water industry sewage, which is cited as a reason for 80% of its failing rivers. Pollution from farming is also a significant issue in most parks, listed as a reason for 76% of the failing water bodies in the Broads. Overall, about half the failing rivers in national parks are the result of farm or sewage pollution, or both. In addition, a toxic chemical cocktail is polluting some rivers and lakes in national parks, the report said, including pharmaceuticals used by people and flea-killing chemicals used on dogs.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/16/sewage-overflow-national-parks-england-wales-rivers-lakes