England's river health,
made visible.
Explore decades of water quality data from every river, lake and estuary in England — all in one place. No jargon, no paywalls, just the data that matters.
Explore the mapWhat you can explore
Open data from the Environment Agency, transformed into something anyone can understand.
Sampling Points
Explore over 65,000 water quality monitoring locations across every river, lake, and estuary in England.
Time Series Data
View historical measurements visualised as interactive charts — spot patterns, seasonal cycles, and long-term shifts.
Pollution Indicators
Track key pollutants like ammonia, phosphates, and dissolved oxygen against official water quality thresholds.
River Health Trends
See how water quality has changed over decades and understand what's improving — and what isn't.
Over half of monitored waters score Poor or Bad.
We pulled health classifications for 5,462 Environment Agency monitoring sites across England. 2,728 (51.9%) fall below acceptable health standards.
Health classification breakdown
The pollutants driving the failures
Each site's worst-scoring indicator. Ammonia and BOD — both markers of sewage and organic pollution — dominate.
The scale of the data
Why this exists
Water quality data in England is publicly available, but it's buried in sprawling spreadsheets and technical reports that most people will never read. River Watch exists to change that — to take this complex, fragmented data and make it something anyone can explore and understand.
Whether you live near a river and want to know what's in it, or you're curious about pollution trends in your area and what might be causing them, this tool puts the answers within reach.
This is only the beginning. There's much more I want to build — more data layers, deeper analysis, and new ways to understand the health of England's waterways.
Who's behind this
River Watch is built by Laurence Wayne, a developer passionate about environmental issues and finding practical ways to solve them. Making hidden data visible is one small step toward better understanding — and better outcomes — for England's rivers.
Have questions, ideas, or feedback? I'd love to hear from you.