Thursday 2 December 2004

An amount - representing just 20 per cent of a total £17billion rise - has been allocated for environmental improvements, including better sewage treatment works to prevent pollution of rivers.

• £492m is for direct nature conservation improvements such as protecting our most pristine rivers and preventing wetland nature reserves from drying out - benefit wildlife such as rare plants, wading birds, otters and water voles.


• £550m is for better conservation of freshwater fish, such as the Salmon, the tenth fastest declining species in Europe.


• The extra spend will also produce benefits of between £200-300m, including increasing water related tourism.


• The rest of the rise in bills is due mainly to increase in costs of supplying higher quality water to homes and to businesses, and to preventing sewers flooding.

"After a big struggle, the UK now has a water investment programme for the future that will deliver big gains for the environment and people," said Rob Oates, WWF Rivers and Wetlands Officer. "For the cost of a can of fizzy drink per week, the average bill payer will be helping repair the damage to the environment caused by wasteful human consumption of vast amounts of water."

Two water companies are funding ground breaking work with farmers and landowners to prevent pollution entering rivers in the first place. These 'catchment management schemes' are part of the integrated river basin management approach that is the way forward for long term conservation of rivers and their water supplies. WWF is helping implement this approach in the UK through our work on new EU legislation - the Water Framework Directive.