11 Mar 2025

In 2024, it was revealed United Utilities had repeatedly discharged millions of litres of raw sewage illegally into Lake Windermere over a three-year period. Environment Secretary Steve Reed has pledged that he will work toward a future where “only rainwater” enters England’s largest lake. The announcement comes as Reed and water minister Emma Hardy embark […]

11 Mar 2025

The Hidden Sands project hopes new hi-tech surveillance could improve the enforcement of sand mining regulations and improve resilience for these riverbed communities.   Photo by Pok Rie   Sand plays a central role in modern society (e.g. smartphones – high-purity silica sand is essential for making silicon chips) and urban development (e.g. skyscrapers – […]

11 Mar 2025

Ditches are human-made, linear waterways built to serve a variety of purposes, such as draining wetlands, irrigating crops and creating desirable waterfront properties. Previous research revealed that man-made ditches were responsible for emitting 3% of the total global methane emissions from human activities. Now a new study, carried out by ditch experts from the UK, […]

11 Mar 2025

The Welsh and UK Government have announced a new £1 million joint research initiative to tackle water quality issues in the River Wye. The river, which runs for 130 miles from central Wales to the Severn Estuary, has seen its water quality and wildlife drastically decline after years of exposure to agricultural pollution, sewage discharges […]

06 Mar 2025

Photo by Sang Yun Cho / Pixabay   The environmental group River Action has announced they are taking legal action against Ofwat, the water regulator, accusing it of making customers pay twice for services that have not yet been delivered.  Water companies are under investigation by Ofwat for breaches to their permits, an inquiry that […]

06 Mar 2025

United Utilities (UU) is set to confirm a reduction in the number and duration of storm overflow operations across the North West last year, when official figures are released by the Environment Agency (EA) later this month.  In the Windermere catchment, the company’s annual event duration monitoring (EDM) submission to the EA records a 28% […]