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The Environment Agency published in 2011 a report on the state of river habitats in England and Wales. The main results  are:

River channels are extensively modified across England, Wales and the Isle of Man.

Over many centuries,  rivers have been straightened, widened, deepened and dammed, mainly to improve drainage of land for housing, industry and farmland, and to reduce the risk of local flooding. As a result, river and bankside habitats have become impoverished and the variety of wildlife they support has declined.