01 May 2025

Image description: Brown Wooden Gavel on Brown Wooden Table. Image by Katrin Bolovtsova / Pexels.   New laws coming into force in England and Wales could see water company executives face up to two years in prison for obstructing investigations into illegal sewage spills. Under the government’s landmark Water Act, executives who fail to meet […]

01 May 2025

Image description: Aerial shot of water treatment centre. Image by Tom Fisk.   Unprecedented challenges facing UK water sector   A critical new report by the National Audit Office (NAO) audits the three water regulators (Ofwat, the Environment Agency, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate) and Defra, which sets policies for the water sector. It examines their effectiveness […]

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: Sewage pipes on the right flow out into an ocean on the left. Image by Tom Fisk / Pexels.   New levy proposed to cover enforcement costs  The Environment Agency (EA) has revealed details of how it intends to implement a levy on water companies to recoup the money it needs to carry […]

17 Apr 2025

Image description: Aerial shot of Dunball sluice during early refurbishment. Image by the Environment Agency.   The Environment Agency has completed a £9.7 million refurbishment of the Dunball Sluice, a crucial tidal defence asset near Bridgwater that helps protect homes, businesses and internationally important freshwater habitats across the Somerset Levels region. The agency has upgraded […]

03 Apr 2025

The UK government has recently announced a £16 million funding boost to improve flood protection for farmers and rural communities. The additional funding will go toward internal drainage boards (IDBs) to boost farm and rural flood resilience, bringing the total IDB Fund to £91 million. The government reported that an expected 400,000 hectares of agricultural […]

27 Mar 2025

Raw sewage was released into England’s rivers and seas for a record 3.61 million hours last year as Labour calls the new figures “disgraceful”. The Rivers Trust analysis of Environment Agency spill data counted 450,398 discharges. While the number of sewage spills by water companies marginally decreased compared to 2023, each spill lasted longer on […]

18 Mar 2025

A major milestone has been reached in the construction of the Bridgwater Tidal Barrier with the arrival of a jack up barge from Liverpool. Jack up barges provide a stable working platform for the construction and servicing of structures in marine or fluvial environments. Arriving in Bridgwater on 13 March, the Haven SeaSeven will enable […]