EAST Lancashire is leading the way in fighting pollution in its waterways, according to a new report.

Walverdon Water in Nelson is one of the most improved rivers in the North West according to a survey by environment experts.

And the Leeds and Liverpool canal through Blackburn has also improved "significantly" over the last decade.

Carol Holt of the Environment Agency said: "There has been significant amounts of work done on that stretch of the canal. We have worked with industry in particular, given them a lot of advice and guidance."

Almost 90 per cent of the region's rivers and canals are now rated in either the "good" or "fair" categories, with just over 10 per cent described as "poor" or "bad".

The report by the Environment Agency rates the water quality using the agency's own General Quality Assessment scheme.

This has six cleanliness bands and rates rivers on the amount of ammonia and oxygen they have in them, from the best in band A to the worst rivers and canals in F.

An Environment Agency spokesman said the waterways were regularly monitored .

He said: "If you have a little ammonia but a lot of oxygen, that is a pretty good river, and is the sort of environment a fish would thrive in." The report shows that since the first quality assessment was carried out in 1990 more than half of the region's waterways have improved by one grade or more.

And the results for the North West are comparable with the rest of the country, with just under 90 per cent of its rivers and canals rated in in bands A to D, compared to 92 per cent for England and Wales as a whole.

But the region did have 35 per cent of its waterways rated in the top band compared to 29 per cent for the rest of the country.

Jeremy Frost, the Agency's North West Environment Protection manager said the improvements were due to investment by the water industry in better sewage treatment and networks, and tight regulation, enforcement and pollution prevention work by the Environment Agency.

He added: "We will be working with our partner agencies to continue to build on this good news for the future." By LIAM MURPHY EAST Lancashire is leading the way in fighting pollution in its waterways, according to a new report.

Walverdon Water in Nelson is one of the most improved rivers in the North West according to a survey by environment experts.

And the Leeds-Liverpool canal through Blackburn has also improved "significantly" over the last decade.

Carol Holt of the Environment Agency said: "There has been significant amounts of work done on that stretch of the canal. We have worked with industry in particular, given them a lot of advice and guidance."

Almost 90 per cent of the region's rivers and canals are now rated in either the "good" or "fair" categories, with just over 10 per cent described as "poor" or "bad".

The report by the Environment Agency rates the water quality using the agency's own General Quality Assessment scheme.

This has six cleanliness bands and rates rivers on the amount of ammonia and oxygen they have in them, from the best in band A to the worst rivers and canals in F.

An Environment Agency spokesman said the waterways were regularly monitored .

He said: "If you have a little ammonia but a lot of oxygen, that is a pretty good river, and is the sort of environment a fish would thrive in."

The report shows that since the first quality assessment was carried out in 1990 more than half of the region's waterways have improved by one grade or more.

And the results for the North West are comparable with the rest of the country, with just under 90 per cent of its rivers and canals rated in in bands A to D, compared to 92 per cent for England and Wales as a whole.

But the region did have 35 per cent of its waterways rated in the top band compared to 29 per cent for the rest of the country.

Jeremy Frost, the Agency's North West Environment Protection manager said the improvements were due to investment by the water industry in better sewage treatment and networks, and tight regulation, enforcement and pollution prevention work by the Environment Agency.

He added: "We will be working with our partner agencies to continue to build on this good news for the future."

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