This data product combines macroinvertebrate taxonomic abundance for 1,519 monitoring sites across English rivers for the period between 1965 and 2018, with concentrations of 41 water quality determinands, river flow measurements and air temperature derived values. It also includes site variables such as sewage effluent exposure, habitat quality, land cover in the upstream catchment and other physical parameters measured at the sampling point such as altitude, slope, distance from source, width and depth of the channel, and type of substrate. Developed as part of the ChemPop (2018-2023), a NERC-funded project investigating the impact of chemical exposure on wildlife populations in rivers, this research output is an open data product for use in a broad spectrum of environmental data and modelling analyses.