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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Rachel Salvidge

Environment Agency has ‘no idea’ how much water is taken, says whistleblower

The River Chelmer near Chelmsford in Essex. The abstraction licensing regime dates back to the 1960s and successive governments have pledged to reform it for more than a decade.
The River Chelmer near Chelmsford in Essex. The abstraction licensing regime dates back to the 1960s and successive governments have pledged to reform it. Photograph: Country Calm/Den Reader/Alamy

The government has “no idea” how much water is being taken from rivers and groundwater, according to an Environment Agency (EA) whistleblower, as swathes of England remain in drought despite recent heavy rainfall.

The whistleblower told the Guardian that the EA’s regulation of water abstraction points for farms, small businesses and private water supplies was “absolutely pointless” because most were not metered and the monitoring that did take place was unreliable.

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