24 Apr 2025
Disaster planning often overlooks how people truly respond during emergencies. New research, highlighted by CIWEM, using insights from schoolchildren shows how social data can make flood evacuation strategies more effective and inclusive. In July 2021, devastating floods struck Germany and Belgium due to extreme rainfall, submerging many towns. In Germany, over 190 lives were lost, particularly in […]
24 Apr 2025
Welsh Water have called for less concrete and chemicals to be used in the drive to improve river water quality, with more emphasis on the use of schemes that use nature to do the work. A reliance on concrete or ‘grey’ systems to increase storm storage or increase wastewater treatment has resulted in high carbon […]
24 Apr 2025
Two new Bills, introduced as Private Members Bills, both with potentially significant impacts for water companies, are due to have their Second readings in Parliament on Friday 25 April 2025. Water Briefing reported that the Chalk Streams (Protection) Bill had its First reading in Parliament on 21 October 2024. The Bill addresses the creation of a […]
24 Apr 2025
Water companies should no longer be allowed to monitor their own levels of sewage pollution, the industry body has told the BBC exclusively. Instead they are proposing a new, third-party monitoring system to build consumer trust. The recommendation is part of a submission made to the UK government’s independent review into the water […]
17 Apr 2025
Image description: People attending a march. A man is wearing a green t-shirt which reads “don’t poison our water”. Image credit The Climate Reality Project. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) have released their annual water quality report, which “brings together sewage discharge data, sickness data and figures from our Safer Seas and Rivers Service app […]
17 Apr 2025
Image description: Rowing boats stowed away. Image credit Antonio Babuli/ Pexels. The iconic Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race took place on Sunday 13 April. However, pre-race excitement was overshadowed by results from water-quality testing, which revealed levels of E. coli bacteria almost three times above the Environment Agency’s threshold for “poor” bathing waters, along […]
17 Apr 2025
Image description: The Roman Baths museum in Bath. Image credit Rachel Claire / Pexels. The University of Bath has opened the UK’s first pilot wastewater monitoring centre which it says could help avoid future pandemics. The early-warning public health surveillance system is based on detecting traces of chemicals and biological markers found in water. […]
17 Apr 2025
Image description: A beaver sitting in water. Image by Matej Bizjak / Pexels. An opinion piece by farmer and owner of Argaty Red Kites, Tom Bowser, has called out NatureScot for stalling beaver reintroductions, declaring “something is wrong at the heart of NatureScot”. Tom Bowser questions the Nature Agency’s ongoing blocking of beaver releases, […]
