Protect Water – take action now
8th November 2018
With our partners in Wildlife and Countryside Link, we have launched a new campaign and we need your help – our waters are in danger!
The European Commission could soon weaken the protection of our waters, rivers, lakes and streams at the urging of lobbying by businesses and from some EU Member States. These weakened laws will be transferred to the UK and we would inherit watered down protections post-Brexit.
Our waters are already struggling. In England and Wales, only 1 in 5 rivers are in good condition. The number of healthy rivers in England has declined from 27% in 2010 to 14% in 2017, imagine how bad the situation could get if water laws are weakened!
If officials weaken protections now it would have a fatal impact on valuable ecosystems and for countless birds, fish, mammals, and insect species that live on and in the water. It could have huge impact on you too, as our drinking water comes from these waters too.
You can help us stop this!
Please take just a few minutes to help our campaign to ‘protect water’ and tell the European Commission that you care what happens to our waters by filling in our simple form: www.wcl.org.uk/protectwater
Our water is contaminated with nitrates, mercury, micro plastics and more. Rivers are crammed in tight corsets of concrete. Dams and other structures block the path of migratory fish. This is not the fault of laws. It shows us that the policy of water protection is not seen as important. The Member States and the EU Commission lack the will to implement it.
Changing the definition of what “good condition” means or extending deadlines to meet water protection requirements would only benefit businesses – not us humans and not nature. The EU Commission must keep water protections strong and ensure that its members finally take water protection seriously.
The European Commission has recently launched a public consultation in which everyone can contribute their opinion on the future of water conservation. Their consultation is rather complicated, perhaps deliberately so to avoid getting too many responses! But with our very simple campaign you can back our calls for healthy waters for people and wildlife in the UK with just a few clicks!
Help protect our waters here: www.wcl.org.uk/protectwater
A huge thank you for helping to save our waters and our wildlife
PS: This campaign involves more than 100 organisations from across the EU. We need a lot of people for this message to be heard by the Commission and, above all, to counteract corporate lobbying, for example from the chemical industry. Please share. #ProtectWater #ProtectWildlife