Enforcement Undertakings

When damage is caused to a river or waterway, the person or organisation responsible may have the option to address that damage through a voluntary offer known as an Enforcement Undertaking, a type of civil sanction that allows them to make things right without the need for lengthy and costly legal proceedings.

Enforcement Undertakings follow the polluter pays principle: the party responsible for causing pollution is responsible for funding the associated clean-up and restoration. Calder Rivers Trust is ideally placed to receive and deliver those funds, putting them directly into environmental improvements in the Calder catchment.

Report a pollution incident

Calder Rivers Trust operates across Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield in West Yorkshire. If your incident is outside this area, please visit The Rivers Trust website to find your local Rivers Trust.

View our operational area

Find your local Rivers Trust

How it works

Step 1:

Report it

If you or your organisation are responsible for a pollution incident, the first and most important step is to report it to the Environment Agency as quickly as possible. Acting promptly reduces environmental damage and demonstrates good faith.

Step 2:

The decision

It will be for the Environment Agency to determine whether an Enforcement Undertaking can be accepted in your case.

Step 3:

Funds arrive

If accepted, funds are directed to a charity such as Calder Rivers Trust to support the delivery of environmental improvements, either at the site of the incident or elsewhere within the same catchment.

Step 4:

The Work

Calder Rivers Trust coordinates and delivers the environmental project, repair, restoration, or clean-up. Our existingRiver Health Projectis our ongoing mission to identify and tackle pollution incidents affecting our rivers, streams, ponds, and waterways.

Why work with us

Calder Rivers Trust operates across the whole of Calderdale, Kirklees, and Wakefield. Our existing River Health Project is our ongoing mission to identify and tackle pollution incidents affecting our rivers, streams, ponds, and waterways, meaning we already have the expertise, the relationships, and the local knowledge to make enforcement funding go as far as possible.

By working with us, you can be confident that funds are being used effectively and that genuine environmental improvements are being made in your local catchment.