By Abbas Nazil
Britain’s network of canals and rivers is under increasing threat due to chronic underfunding and mounting climate pressures, campaigners have warned.
According to the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), three-quarters of the country’s navigable waterways are facing financial peril, with 99% expected to experience heightened climate-related risks under a 2°C global heating scenario.
The association’s new climate risk map highlights areas such as the Pennines and the Midlands as particularly vulnerable, where reservoirs feeding canals are threatened by worsening droughts and heavier rainfall.
The Canal & River Trust (CRT), which manages about 2,000 miles of waterways, said canals benefit over 10 million people, support more than 80,000 jobs, and save the NHS £1.5bn annually.
However, incidents such as the collapse of the Bridgewater Canal embankment at Dunham Massey on New Year’s Day, which displaced nearly 1,000 residents and cost £400,000 in stabilisation, have underscored the network’s fragility.
IWA campaign director Charlie Norman warned that climate change alone could cause catastrophic damage even to well-maintained structures.
He added that decades of inconsistent government funding, combined with extreme weather events, have pushed many waterways toward closure and disrepair.
A Defra spokesperson said the government has committed over £480m in grants to support the CRT, while acknowledging that navigation authorities are responsible for maintaining infrastructure resilience.
CRT chief executive Campbell Robb revealed that emergency repairs after last winter’s storms alone cost £10m, urging more public donations and continued government support.
The IWA estimates that 75 percent of navigation authorities, including the Environment Agency and the Cam Conservancy, face financial instability.
Norman called for a government-led review to secure long-term funding, warning that without immediate intervention, Britain’s historic waterways could face irreversible decline by 2050.
