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BBC environment correspondent
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Thousands of water tests to identify potential harmful pollution in rivers, lakes and estuaries in England have been cancelled in the last three months due to staff shortages, the BBC has learned.
The Environment Agency confirmed the cancellations after campaigners showed us internal emails and documents with plans for extensive cuts to monitoring programmes.
The cancelled tests are for so-called inorganic pollutants – substances such as nitrates and phosphates that can indicate sewage or agricultural pollution.
The EA says its testing programme “remains robust” but this week a landmark report said it had “struggled to effectively oversee and manage the water system”.
In the three months from May to July the water regulator says that 10,000 scheduled tests at its main laboratory at Starcross in Devon did not take place due to staff shortages.
Others were combined with other tests or postponed in what the EA says was an “optimisation” process.
The Environment Agency said seven national inorganic testing programmes had been completely “paused”. They include programmes that track chemical pollution in rivers, lakes and estuaries as well as one that monitors the regulator’s plans for dealing with drought.
Jo Bradley, who worked at the Environment Agency’s water quality team for more than 20 years, told the BBC: “Some inorganic substances, such as copper and zinc, are directly toxic to aquatic organisms, including fish and insects,”
“Others, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, are nutrients and they can affect river health when they are present in high quantities.
“These substances
