We cover the heart of the UK

Our region covers the heart of the UK, stretching from the
Bristol Channel to the Humber and from mid-Wales to the East Midlands.

Our region is made up of over 130 rivers covering over 6,800 kilometres of rivers.

Our region's rivers since 1989

Severn Trent has been solely responsible for the water and wastewater treatment for customers across our region since it was formed in 1974.

Phosphate, Ammonia and Biochemical oxygen demand all impact the health of rivers 

We've invested £12 billion

In the last three decades, we've invested over £12 billion in improving the sewage treatment system. During this time we’ve contributed to making rivers healthier than they have ever been before. But we still have further to go and now is the time to take it to the next level.

We continue to invest over £100m a year on our sewage network improving our sewer systems, reducing sewer flooding and pollutions and installing more monitoring capability.

Creating healthy rivers

River health in England is measured by the Environment Agency (EA). All waterbodies aim to achieve Good Ecological Status, which means that the river is as close to its natural state as possible.

The EA measure this looking at a range of aspects including:

  • the amount and size of fish and other species
  • the presence of chemicals like phosphate, ammonia and dissolved oxygen

Water companies, such as Severn Trent, account for 27% of the remaining quality issues in England’s rivers. With other sectors, including agriculture, housing and transport amongst others, accounting for 73% of the reasons for rivers failing to achieve good ecological status.

Source: The Environment Agency Challenges data for England, August 2022

We will help to achieve good ecological status

Get River Positive will ensure Severn Trent is not responsible for any rivers in our region not achieving good ecological status. We’ll take our impact on rivers down to 0% by 2030.

We will also continue to educate, advocate and use our convening powers to help others to address their issues too.