ARCHIVE: Key Facts about: Inland Water Quality and Use

Nitrate concentrations in rivers: 1995, 2000, 2008

United Kingdom

Nitrate concentrations in rivers
Percentage of river lengths with nitrate concentrations greater than 30mg NO3-/l
  1995 2000 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
England 36.4 38.7 35.2 34.7 34.2 32.4 32.1
Wales 0.5 1.5 0 0.4 1.4 1.4 1.3
Scotland .. 3 3 3 3 0 0
Northern Ireland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

High levels of nitrate can lead to eutrophication in esturine and coastal water and are of concern in relation to drinking water abstractions.Higher levels of nitrate concentrations tend to be in central and eastern England, reflecting inputs from agriculture, geology and sewage effluent. In Anglian region the percentage of river length with concentrations above 30 mgNO3-/l decreased between 2000 and 2008  from 87 to 64. In 2008  Thames region had an average concentration greater than 30 mgNO3-/l in about half the river length. In all other regions there was relatively little change.

In Detail:
Nutrients
River Water Quality Database providing data on chemical and biological river water quality and nutrient concentrations for each Government Office Region and Local Authority in England and Wales.
Further Information:
Key Facts:
Chemical river water quality
Biological river water quality
Phosphate concentrations in rivers
Water pollution incidents
Data Tables:

Download Chart Data: Microsoft Excel

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Page last modified: 30 November 2009
Page published: 28 August 2007