Why is the river system failing?

80 of North Devon's 92 river water bodies are currently failing to achieve Good Ecological Status.

The evidence suggests that these 80 failures fall into five broad groups:

• Combination of agricultural and wastewater pressures – 27
• Predominantly agricultural pressures – 22
• Predominantly wastewater pressures – 13
• Isolated fish population – 14
• Special cases (historic mining impacts, specific pollutants, heavily modified channels) - 4

What is happening now?

A substantial programme of activity is already underway across North Devon:

• The Environment Agency has a team focused on regulatory farm inspections, and is also reviewing discharge permits, tightening phosphorus consents, investigating the causes of river failure, and enforcing compliance with environmental regulations
• South West Water is delivering significant AMP8 (2025-2030) investment in wastewater infrastructure, including phosphorus reduction at sewage treatment works, reductions in storm overflow spill frequency and duration, and a range of investigations to inform future AMP9 investment.
• Environmental organisations, protected landscapes and land advisory programmes are supporting practical delivery on the ground through initiatives such as Northern Devon Natural Solutions, Devon Woods, Farming in Protected Landscapes, fisheries habitat management, river restoration and natural flood management projects. These programmes are helping farmers, landowners and communities improve river health and build long-term catchment resilience.

Intervention hypothesis

To achieve good ecological status across the whole of North Devon:

• SWW must deliver its AMP8 and AMP9 investment plans, and ensure all remaining priority sewage treatment works and storm overflows are included in their AMP10 plans
• The Environment Agency must continue its regulatory enforcement work, focused on 48 river water body catchments
• This need to be combined with support for those same farms across the same 48 river water bodies to improve soil structure and reduce runoff
• We need targeted support focused on dairy and beef cattle slurry management in 14 river water body catchments, and focused on poultry manure management in 10 river water body catchments
• We need investment in fish passage and ecological continuity in 7 river water bodies
• Bespoke solutions are required in 8 river water bodies affected by special-case pressures, including mining impacts, heavily modified channels and other complex environmental constraints.

In addition to those primary interventions, we recommend continued investment in riparian tree planting (increasing shading to reduce algal blooms), fish habitat improvement measures, and an awareness and improvement programme around private sewerage systems.