03 Aug 2021

Despite the development of large scale and much advertised attempts to clear plastic from the ocean, a much more efficient method is to catch it before it even gets that far. The Dutch startup The Great Bubble Barrier is a simple, yet effective method to catch plastic pollution in rivers before it flows to the […]

21 Jul 2021

The Rivers Trust has given its reaction to the Environment Agency environmental performance report on the water industry. THE RIVERS TRUST RESPONSE TO WATER AND SEWERAGE COMPANY ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE REPORT: WINNING SLOWLY IS THE SAME AS LOSING The Environment Agency published its Environmental Performance Report for water and sewerage companies today, assessing nine water companies’ […]

13 Jul 2021

Southern Water has been sentenced to pay record £90 million in fines for widespread pollution after pleading guilty to 6,971 unpermitted sewage discharges. Southern Water has been handed a record £90 million fine after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage which polluted rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex. The […]

13 Jul 2021

The EA has released ‘Water and sewerage companies in England: environmental performance for 2020’. Chair’s foreword The progress made against the Environmental Performance Assessment’s (EPA) metrics over the last 5 years shows that clear targets and regulatory focus combined with investment in the environment delivers change. From 2020’s results there is welcome news that for […]

13 Jul 2021

Record £90m fine for Southern Water following EA prosecution Environment Agency ‘Southern Water sentenced to pay record £90 million in fines for widespread pollution after pleading guilty to 6,971 unpermitted sewage discharges. Southern Water has today (Friday 9 July) been handed a record £90 million fine after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of […]

06 Jul 2021

Presented by George Monbiot, with live music from charlotte church. On Wed 14 July at 7pm, “in 60 action-packed minutes, the world’s first live investigative documentary will attempt to find out who is polluting our rivers and why we’re not stopping them.” See Rivercide TV. Covered in The Ecologist.

06 Jul 2021

Plastic pollution and projected growth of plastics – check this page of projections – and you’ll get the scale of the problem we are facing. Call for global treaty to end production of ‘virgin’ plastic by 2040 Scientists say agreement must cover extraction of raw materials and pollution that blights seas and land Science: A […]

30 Jun 2021

From the Guardian The head of the Environment Agency has called for the government to reinstate a £120m grant to help increase surveillance of water companies and cut pollution in rivers. Sir James Bevan, the chief executive of the agency, told MPs that water companies and the farming industry, the two main polluters of rivers, were not […]