safe concentrations, is rated good or fail. The water quality of the Loxley was as follows in 2019. Like many rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and mercury compounds, none of which had previously been included in the assessment. The Environment Agency are hoping to achieve good overall status by 2027. The river channel is heavily modified, and this contributes to its biological status. The reservoirs at the upper end trap sediments, and prevent the recharge of gravel beds further downstream. Additionally, there are no major tributaries on the upper and middle section, to provide alternative sources of sediment. The controlling of the flow by releases from Damflask Reservoir and some high flow or spill events have further removed finer gravels, leaving larger rocks and boulders, which are not ideal for fish propagation. The remaining weirs have a detrimental effect both on the movement of gravel and the migration of fish and other species. Some sections of the river have also been protected by hard banking, and near Hillsborough, by channelisation. There is an ongoing project to improve the river for fish migration, with the focus on allowing salmon to return to the river to breed by 2020, but any work carried out will also benefit populations of brown trout, grayling, eels and lamprey. In 2012, most of the fish in the river were brown trout, with no established coarse fish. In order to achieve regeneration, an archaeological survey was carried out in 2012, examining the eight weirs from Stacey Wheel to Owlerton Wheels. The reason for the survey was that any modification to the weirs, which are historic structures, would require both planning consent and ancient monument consent. Modification would be necessary to provide fish passes at each of the sites. Subsequently, the Don Catchment Rivers Trust commissioned the engineers Arup Group to assess how fish migration could be encouraged. They only considered the weirs from Old Wheel to Owlerton Wheel, as the weir at Stacey Wheel is very close to the reservoir dam, and would not increase the length of river accessible to fish by very much. The two weirs below Hillsborough, at Birley Wheel and Black Wheels, are the subject of a separate study being carried out by the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency also assessed the