75% of British Rivers in Poor Ecological Health, Citizen Science Survey Finds [Video]

A large citizen science survey of rivers in Britain — the Great UK WaterBlitz Report — has found that 75 percent are ecologically unhealthy due to agricultural runoff and pollution from water companies.

Monitored by Earthwatch Europe volunteers, the survey found that waterways in the basin of the famed River Thames — as well as other rivers in the East Anglia and southeast regions of England — were in the worst shape, reported The Guardian. In those parts of the country, 89 percent were found to be in poor ecological health.

“The picture around London and the Thames river basin is particularly dire,” said Dr. Sasha Woods, Earthwatch Europe’s director of science and policy, as The Guardian reported.

The worst water quality was found in the counties of Cambridgeshire, with 89 percent of rivers having unsatisfactory nutrient pollution levels, and Hertfordshire with 91 percent.

“Unsurprisingly, counties in the Thames region — Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire — …