River Bure

Norfolk is home to around 10% of England’s chalk streams and rivers. The River Bure is one such chalk waterway with a significant role to play in the support of nationally important wildlife and habitats. Stretching 51km out to sea, the River Bure and its many interconnected broads and fens contain pike and perch, otters, bittern and marsh harriers.

Despite its value for wildlife, 93% of waterbodies on the river are in a moderate to poor state whilst 7% are assessed as good. 

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Risks to the River Bure:

The state of the River Bure

The Broads National Park is the most biodiverse wetland in the UK with a mosaic of habitats that contain more than a quarter of Britain’s rarest animals and plants. The National Park was designated in part due to the poor state of the water and fenland habitat in the 1980s. Cloudy water had become a major issue due to phosphates and unmanaged habitats turning to scrub.   

Things have improved since the establishment of the Broads Authority, but despite its renowned biodiversity and protected status, our 2024 Health Check report showed that The Broads still has the lowest water quality of all National Parks in England and Wales with only 7.1% of water bodies in good ecological condition and the waterbodies of the National Park still at risk. 

Agriculture and rural land management account for 72% of reasons for not achieving good status on the river, but the water industry also has an important part to play, accounting for an average of 59 tonnes of dissolved phosphorus in the river each year. Of the rivers at risk which we looked at across our National Parks the River Bure received the lowest total hours of sewage overflow spills (7,587 hours), but this is clearly still having a significant impact on the health of the river.