Angling Direct Supports Communities To Tackle UK Water Pollution

In response to the latest Environment Agency report revealing a 60% year-on-year increase in serious water pollution incidents in 2024, we are renewing our call for urgent action to protect waterways and support the angling community’s efforts in monitoring and reporting pollution.

As anglers we are all witnessing first-hand the damage being done to rivers we’ve cherished for generations. Through our retail network and digital platforms, Angling Direct has been and will continue to be a  vocal advocate for water quality reform and we will continue to engage customers and stakeholders on the importance of environmental stewardship. We stand in full support of the Government’s tougher enforcement stance and welcome the decision to establish a new, single, powerful regulator to clean up our country’s rivers.

As part of our ongoing commitment to protecting the UK’s waterways, Angling Direct is proud to not only support and sponsor the Angling Trust’s “Anglers Against Pollution” campaign, but also to provide essential equipment and logistical support to the Angling Trust’s rapidly expanding Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN). 

Through this initiative, we re-stock supplies of water testing kits, free of charge, empowering anglers and communities to collect vital data using affordable and accessible kits, helping to identify pollution hotspots and hold polluters accountable. This grassroots-driven approach is essential in supplementing regulatory efforts and ensuring transparency.

The WQMN now boasts a network of 775 trained volunteers from more than 300 angling clubs, who together have submitted nearly 10,000 water samples across England and Wales. These results helped build the data required to produce the Angling Trust’s second annual Water Quality Monitoring Network Report.