06 Sep 2023

Ofwat, the economic regulator for the water sector in England and Wales, is calling on water companies with bold and innovative projects to solve some of the water sector’s biggest challenges to apply to win the fourth Water Breakthrough Challenge. To date, Ofwat’s £200 million Innovation Fund has awarded more than £105 million to projects […]

06 Sep 2023

Professor Sir Dieter Helm sets out the arguments against nationalisation and the status quo. Mention Thames Water (“Thames”) and eyes tend to glaze over. How could the great promises of privatisation have come to this? Across the industry, most try to keep their distance in case the Thames experience undermines their own reputations. On most […]

06 Sep 2023

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has partnered with More Than Insurance on a project focused on investment for flood management solutions. The programme includes the installation of green verges and attenuation ponds to reduce rain water peak flow and therefore risk of flooding. The programme will showcase ways to address flooding triggers in Gloucester and Cheltenham at […]

06 Sep 2023

The BBC reports that firefighters are using treated sewage water after droughts. The article actually describes the use of treated and disinfected *wastewater* to put out fires, rather than abstracting from rivers and lakes in areas of water stress.

06 Sep 2023

Realising smarter stormwater management: A review of the barriers and a roadmap for real world application A new paper in the Journal of Water Research provides a structured methodology for overcoming barriers to the effective management of stormwater systems. The highlights include: Current implementation of internet-of-things enabled stormwater management systems is low. Barriers related to […]

05 Sep 2023

Orcas that have been ramming boats are not “attacking” the vessels, but are most likely being playful, leading scientists have said. The experts have warned that the false narrative is putting the animals at risk of retribution from humans. Iberian orcas started ramming vessels along the Spanish and Portuguese coast in July 2020, with at least 11 […]

05 Sep 2023

The Icelandic government has announced that commercial whaling can resume after the activity was suspended for more than two months. Commercial hunting of fin whales can resume but with stricter requirements on hunting methods and increased supervision, the government said. In June, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the country’s minister of food, agriculture and fisheries, postponed this year’s planned whale […]