Sewage pollution: why the UK water industry is broken
Water companies recently released raw sewage near more than 100 beaches across Britain.
Primary Results
Water companies now have to release live sewage spill data – here’s why more transparency is the key to cleaner rivers
A new law is forcing water companies to make pollution data readily accessible to the general public - but it doesn’t go far enough.
If more houses had water butts, it could help with drought, flooding and water pollution
Extreme weather is set to dominate our future – can collecting rainwater reduce the threat posed by both drought and flooding?
If rivers had legal rights, sewage scandals would be much harder to ignore
Shifting the law to treat rivers as legal ‘persons’ rather than economic assets could offer a radical new way to hold polluters to account.
Should you pour coffee down the drain? An environmental scientist explains
Caffeine has been found in more than 50% of samples of 258 rivers in 104 countries.
To clean up England’s rivers we need to know how much sewage is dumped – but water firms won’t tell us
Thames Water has mapped its discharges in near real time. But we still need data on the volume of sewage dumped in rivers.
Environment issues have never been so fiercely debated in a Welsh election campaign as they will be in 2026
Rural and environmental issues are high on the political agenda in the upcoming Welsh election.
What live sewage spill data does (and doesn’t) tell us about water pollution
England’s event duration monitoring system records when a sewage overflow starts and stops. But duration alone tells us very little about the pollution released.
We’ve found a way to help endangered eels overcome dams and weirs
Researchers say eel tiles offer conservationists a new fish passage solution that could slow down the population decrease of the European eel.
Britain’s ‘broken’ water system: a history of death, denial and diarrhoea
The water regulator has issued a record £168m fine to Thames, Yorkshire and Northumbrian Water for a ‘catalogue of failure’ regarding illegal sewage discharges – with more fines expected to follow.
Secondary Results
