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4 Sep 2006 : Column 2032W—continued

Both bathing water quality and river water quality have also improved. Monitoring by the Environment Agency has shown compliance with the mandatory standard of the Bathing Water Directive has risen from 79.3 per cent. in 1990 to 98.8 per cent. in 2005. Compliance with its more stringent guideline standard has risen from 34.2 per cent. in 1990 to 83.8 per cent. in 2005.

In England, 62 per cent. of rivers were of good quality in 2004 compared with 43 per cent. in 1990. In all years since 1993 over 90 per cent. of rivers in Wales have been of good chemical quality. Table 3, shows the chemical quality of rivers from 1990-2004.

Further improvements in water quality are anticipated as the Water Framework Directive is implemented between now and 2015. Based on a more sophisticated understanding of water quality than existing assessment methods, this Directive sets demanding targets for the ecological and chemical quality of surface waters and chemical and quantitative quality of groundwaters.

Ofwat publishes leakage figures by company, in its annual security of supply, leakage and efficient use of water report. Table 4, shows leakage rates from 1990-91, which is the earliest year that figures are available.

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Table 3: River and Canal Water Quality: Chemical quality of rivers and canals( 1) : 1990( 2) , 1995, 2000-04, England, Wales, Northern Ireland
	Length in km( 4)
	Good	Fair				Poor	Bad		Percentage of total
Years( 3)	A	B	C	D	E		F	Total	Good	Fair	Poor or bad
EA Region
North West
1990	719	598	556	436	648		204	3,161	42	31	27
1995	1,159	1,927	1,027	695	758		132	5,697	54	30	16
2000	2,151	1,361	1,196	500	469		55	5,732	61	30	9
2001	2,231	1,271	1,255	559	367		65	5,748	61	32	8
2002	2,252	1,313	1,122	568	441		44	5,740	62	29	8
2003	2,209	1,294	1,149	638	371		78	5,740	61	31	8
2004	2,134	1,413	1,145	581	386		90	5,748	62	30	8
North East
1990	840	1,603	557	441	607		176	4,224	58	24	19
1995	2,107	1,781	872	626	764		82	6,232	62	24	14
2000	1,629	2,527	1,120	518	402		45	6,240	67	26	7
2001	1,724	2,336	1,214	558	376		25	6,233	65	28	6
2002	2,097	2,132	1,118	484	380		50	6,261	68	26	7
2003	2,121	2,070	1,015	498	406		48	6,157	68	25	7
2004	1,965	2,399	961	448	382		44	6,200	70	23	7
Midlands
1990	450	1,519	1,619	968	956		131	5,643	35	46	19
1995	777	2,183	2,121	885	548		66	6,579	45	46	9
2000	1,191	2,779	1,677	613	401		22	6,682	59	34	6
2001	1,280	2,949	1,468	552	424		14	6,686	63	30	7
2002	1,254	2,961	1,436	644	366		23	6,684	63	31	6
2003	1,187	2,721	1,570	741	464		44	6,726	58	34	8
2004	1,227	2,515	1,770	645	496		51	6,703	56	36	8
Anglian
1990	36	759	1,691	1,189	786		102	4,564	17	63	19
1995	250	1,638	1,468	850	580		28	4,815	39	48	13
2000	591	1,785	1,442	628	345		25	4,815	49	43	8
2001	807	1,976	1,161	533	331		8	4,815	58	35	7
2002	640	1,981	1,267	520	404		4	4,815	54	37	8
2003	395	1,719	1,486	695	483		4	4,782	44	46	10
2004	348	1,666	1,560	758	454		9	4795	42	48	10
Thames
1990	293	992	1,098	519	618		42	3,563	36	45	19
1995	534	1,299	1,160	573	216		13	3,796	48	46	6
2000	968	1,539	685	389	206		3	3,791	66	28	6
2001	1,032	1,537	711	395	112		2	3,789	68	29	3
2002	973	1,595	781	267	169		4	3,789	68	28	5
2003	833	1,600	764	384	188		15	3,784	64	30	5
2004	814	1,601	795	374	183		20	3,788	64	31	5
Southern
1990	238	713	672	292	238		33	2,186	44	44	12
1995	276	972	585	217	152		20	2,222	56	36	8
2000	462	868	524	218	145		3	2,219	60	33	7
2001	353	943	549	202	176		1	2,223	58	34	8
2002	284	688	757	320	180		1	2,230	44	48	8
2003	236	545	826	395	219		5	2,226	35	55	10
2004	261	633	749	337	247		6	2,233	40	49	11
South West
1990	1,644	2,700	1,301	695	363		68	6,771	64	29	6
1995	2,331	2,276	1,042	224	174		43	6,090	76	21	4
2000	2,753	2,198	768	184	144		1	6,047	82	16	2
2001	2,786	2,184	771	153	166		1	6,061	82	15	3
2002	2,568	2,473	687	158	161		13	6,061	83	14	3
2003	2,426	2,448	774	249	140		18	6,055	80	17	3
2004	2,443	2,389	788	244	172		17	6,052	80	17	3
England
1990	4,197	9,164	7,670	4,643	4,297		772	30,742	43	40	16
1995	7,693	12,291	8,358	4,106	3,212		384	36,044	55	35	10
2000	9,934	13,345	7,515	3,064	2,127		154	36,138	64	29	6
2001	10,426	13,478	7,200	2,978	1,963		123	36,167	66	28	6
2002	10,286	13,416	7,237	2,997	2,115		141	36,191	65	28	6
2003	9,577	12,512	7,627	3,638	2,289		213	35,856	62	31	7
2004	9,386	12,703	7,795	3,446	2,340		236	35,906	62	31	7
(1) Based on the GQA chemical classification system. (2) Figures are three-year averages ending in the year shown (3) Lengths are rounded to the nearest 1 km and may not exactly sum to totals. (4) As the length of monitored rivers greatly increased in 2002, data are shown here for only those rivers that were being monitored before 2002. Source publication: e-Digest of Environmental Statistics, Published August 2005, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/index.htm

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