05 Mar 2026
Image description: A polluted river with a plastic bottle floating on the surface. Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash Thousands of serious pollution incidents by water companies in England were allegedly downgraded by Environment Agency (EA) staff without visiting to investigate, the Guardian has exclusively revealed via a whistleblower’s account. New data was unearthed […]
26 Feb 2026
Image description: Rain drops falling into a shallow pool of water. Photo by reza shayestehpour on Unsplash Despite the South West region experiencing rainfall 62% higher than the national average in 2025, South West Water (SWW) has announced a 17% reduction in storm overflow use and a 25% in cut spill duration over the past […]
26 Feb 2026
Image description: aerial view of a sewage treatment plan. Image by Patrick Federi on Unsplash Southern Water has completed more than 1,000 actions prompted by an Ofwat investigation in 2019. The actions included operational and compliance improvements across 293 wastewater treatment works, £126 million in penalties and redress, organisational changes, and routine inspections as part of its standard operations. Ofwat says water firm must now go further Following […]
26 Feb 2026
Image description: Water jets from a fountain suspended in the air. Image by Geoffrey Crofte on Unsplash A new factual drama from Channel 4, Dirty Business, charts the real stories of the pollution of England’s waterways since the water companies were privatised in 1989. To mark the first episode airing this week, Channel 4 unveiled a dramatic new art installation, ‘a fountain of filth’, on London’s South Bank. […]
26 Feb 2026
Image description: A brown sewage outflow pipe is embedded in rocks, with water gushing into a body of water. Image by Jacob Antony on Unsplash Research shared exclusively with the New Statesman reveals Thames Water illegally polluted waterways with raw sewage at least 8,499 times between 2021 and 2025, showing five years of new regulations have failed to address the company’s environmental degradation, according to the […]
26 Feb 2026
Image description: A dead fish lies on its side on the rocky bed of a river. Image by Oguzhan Aydin from Pixabay. Yorkshire Water has been fined more than £700,000 for repeatedly releasing sewage into a country park stream in Derbyshire, the Environment Agency (EA) said. Yorkshire Water was issued with the penalty after pleading guilty to three offences of sewage pollution in Pools Brook country park […]
26 Feb 2026
Image description: A red and white sign nailed to a wooden fence is in the foreground, with a sandy beach and sea in the background. The sign reads “beach closed, no swimming”. Image by YM, Unsplash. A group legal claim against South West Water (SSW) alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters is harming businesses and individuals has been extended across Devon and Cornwall. […]
19 Feb 2026
Highest superbug concentrations detected near major sewage outfalls Image description: A variety of different coloured tablets packaged in foil layered on top of one another. Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash A new study has uncovered widespread traces of antibiotic-resistant bacteria across Oxford’s river systems, sparking urgent warnings about public health and the environmental impact of sewage discharges. […]
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