What is a legal right?
Legal rights are an individual’s or group’s entitlements under the law which protect their well-being, interests, and freedoms. This includes civil, social and environmental rights. However, our right to healthy rivers is being jeopardised by a toxic torrent of negligence and greed.
Whether you’re an individual simply seeking information or an organisation pursuing a legal case, watch the video below to learn how, when, and why to use the law to protect our waterways:
What laws protect the UK’s rivers?
In the UK, rivers and their ecosystems are primarily protected by environmental laws and regulations aimed at preserving water quality, biodiversity, and ecological integrity. To identify and act on legal violations, campaigners should focus on understanding these regulatory frameworks governing water quality. These include:
What happens if these laws are broken?
These laws aim to regulate discharges into water bodies, set water quality standards, and establish mechanisms for monitoring and enforcement. Violation of these regulations should incur fines and penalties.
However, poor regulation has often resulted in a failure to enforce these laws, with frequent breaches resulting in minimal action being taken against the guilty parties.
If you suspect you have identified a breach in the regulation or law, it is important you escalate the issue by contacting the responsible regulatory body. If no action is taken, follow up with a more formal complaint and support with evidence, and engage local officials and the public using social media.
What are my rights and how can I use them?
As either an individual or an organisation, you have various legal rights and potential remedies available to address river pollution and related environmental concerns.
To start, check out the useful resource from Law Firm Bates Wells that provides guidance on how charities and campaigners can use the law to create change.
Right to know
Under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you have the right to access environmental information held by public authorities. This includes information related to river pollution, water quality monitoring, permits issued to polluters, and enforcement actions taken by regulatory agencies. You can find more information on how to make a FOI request in our FOI Guide or on the government website.
Lots of information on the performance of water companies and regulatory bodies is already available online. Organisations like Violation Tracker UK have databases on corporate and regulatory infringements in the United Kingdom.
Right to report
You have the right to report incidents of river pollution or environmental harm to the relevant public authorities. It’s important to report pollution as it contributes to understanding the scale of its impact. If you can, make note of the time/date, duration, and location of the event, and report it to the relevant authority:
- In England, report it to the Environment Agency’s 24hr hotline
- In Wales, report to Natural Resources Wales
- In Scotland, report to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency
- In Northern Ireland, report to the NI Environment Agency
Right to protest
Citizens have the right to protest peacefully to raise awareness about river pollution and advocate for environmental protection. Check out our campaign for my river section and Friends of the Earth’s protest guidance for more information.
Right to object
In cases where proposed developments or activities may impact rivers and the environment, you have the right to object during the planning process. This could involve submitting objections to planning applications, attending public hearings, and advocating for measures to mitigate environmental impacts.
If you need advice on a current planning application or proposed development, get in touch with your local CPRE branch (CPRW in Wales and APRS in Scotland) – planning is their bread and butter! The organisation Rights: Community: Action also support local communities with planning issues. Other useful resources include:
- The Woodland Trust info page on the UK’s planning systems and how to object to a planning application.
- Friends of the Earth’s campaigners guide to planning applications.
- Windrush Against Sewage Pollution and Evenlode Catchment Partnership’s resources on planning conditions to address sewage works capacity
Pictured: FOTT protestors outside the City Hall, London.
River rights
The concept of River Rights is part of the broader Rights of Nature movement, where communities seek legal protection for their environments. Lawyers for Nature and the Environmental Law Foundation are among the organisations spearheading this movement, helping communities, councils and campaigners represent nature’s interests in the legal arena.
Rather than treating rivers as property or resources, this approach recognises them as living systems with a right to exist free of pollution, flow, and regenerate.
In the UK, current environmental laws often fall short in safeguarding rivers. Recognising rivers as legal entities, with rights akin to corporations or citizens, could transform how we engage with and use water. This approach has already been adopted in countries like New Zealand, India, and Canada, where communities act as legal ‘guardians’ for rivers.
Groups like Love our Ouse in Lewes have led the way in the UK, inspiring councils in Basingstoke & Deane, Southampton, Test Valley and others across the country to pass or propose local Rights of Rivers motions. These draw from the Universal Decleration of the Rights of Rivers, which sets out six core rights: to flow, to perform essential ecosystem functions, to be free from pollution, to feed and be fed by aquifers, to support native biodiversity, and to regenerate.
A new Practical Guide to the Rights of Rivers for Local Communities and Councils, produced by Hogan Lovells and the Environmental Law Foundation, explains how local groups and authorities can behind recognising these rights in their own areas – from drafting declarations to embedding principles in planning, development and policy.
For campaigners wanting to dig deeper, the Rights of Nature Toolkit: How to Protect Rivers in England and Wales, developed by King’s College London, provides detailed legal guidane and examples of council motions (see pages 103-107 on Local Political Action).
Momentum is now building across the country; The Rights of Rivers UK Network links up community groups working on local charters and declarations, while the Lawyers for Nature’s English Rights of Nature Landscape (2024) report maps where the movement is gaining ground. Internationally, the Water Knowledge Hub shares case studies of River Rights being recognised worldwide. Campaigners can also lend their voice to the Government petition to grant rivers and rias legal personhood (open until 22 January 2026).
As pollution, over-abstraction and drought intensify, recognising the Rights of Rivers offers a bold and practical framework for communities to defend, restore, and re-imagine their local waterways, giving nature a legal and moral voice in the decisions that shape its future.
Legal action
In some cases you may be able to take legal action to hold polluters, regulators, and government to account.
For example, you may be able to bring a public law judicial review claim for failure to enforce the law (regulators, government, and local authorities) or a nuisance claim against those not abiding by it (polluters). However, legal cases can be challenging and costly for individuals, smaller groups and communities. It can also be difficult to know how to get the advice you need.
As well as being a resource on river rights, the Rights of Nature Toolkit provides practical advice on how to use a range of legal tools to protect rivers. With examples included throughout, the toolkit covers gathering information, information requests, submitting a complaint, criminal prosecutions, judicial review, environmental planning law, nuisance and human rights claims, soft-law transnational complaints, and public participation, including council motions, public consultations, and objecting to planning permission.
If you are considering legal action, we recommend seeking legal advice from environmental lawyers or organisations specialising in environmental litigation to help determine your rights and options. Leigh Day, Fish Legal, and Environmental Law Foundation may be able to help depending on the issue.
You can also get in touch with River Action by emailing us: info@riveractionuk.com.
Statutory Nuisance Complaints – Community Legal Action
Legal action doesn’t always mean courts or lawyers. Statutory nuisance law gives local councils a duty to investigate sewage pollution where it affects health or everyday life. River Action has developed a step-by-step guide to help communities use this power in practice — adapted from real campaigns and designed to work across the country. It explains what a statutory nuisance is, how to write a complaint, and the submission process. It also provides a pre-written template letter for you to adapt, so you can hit the ground rolling and make a nuisance.
The information provided above does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you require legal advice, please refer to the sources listed above or consult a qualified legal professional.
Resources in this section
We’ve created the following free-to-use templates and guides to help you campaign for your river.
More action you can take
Explore these next steps from the River Rescue Kit or explore the complete toolkit.
