\n Anglers monitoring the River Test and River Itchen\u00a0have warned of nitrate pollution they describe as “endemic and worsening”.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the\u00a0Test and Itchen, average nitrate levels exceeded ecologically safe limits (5 parts per million) in every single month of the third year of monitoring.\n<\/p>\n
\n The concerns are highlighted in the Angling Trust\u2019s third Annual WQMN report, which represents the largest citizen science water quality dataset ever collected for UK rivers.\n<\/p>\n
\n The report draws on more than 12,000 samples collected nationally over three years, and points to ongoing environmental harm driven by nutrient pollution.\n<\/p>\n
\n A high proportion of phosphate tests from both rivers breach the \u2018good\u2019 ecological status standards, signalling sustained nutrient pressure.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Angling Trust claims rivers are being \u201csuffocated\u201d by a cocktail of sewage discharges and agricultural runoff.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Angling Trust is now calling on ministers, regulators, and Southern Water to treat the Test and Itchen as an emergency priority for clean\u2011up, tighten phosphate and nitrate limits for chalk streams, and formally use citizen\u2011science data in enforcement.\n<\/p>\n
\n Alex Farquhar, freshwater campaigns officer at the Angling Trust, said: “Excess nutrients on the scale revealed translate into algal blooms, fish without enough oxygen to survive, and anglers on the bank wondering where the fish have gone.\n<\/p>\n