01 Nov 2023

From Make Water Famous A study in England has found that freshwater macro-invertebrate richness has increased over the past 30 years, indicating a positive trend in biodiversity. Aquatic macro-invertebrates are insects in their nymph and larval stages, that spend at least part of their lives in water. They play a large role in freshwater ecosystems […]

25 Oct 2023

The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Woodland Trust and National Trust have published a set of principles for ensuring ‘nature markets’ truly deliver for nature, climate and people. With an estimated £6 billion annual funding gap for UK nature recovery across land and sea, the UK Government has set an ambitious target to grow annual private investment […]

25 Oct 2023

Ofwat has published key facts from water companies’ business plans 2025-2030, with information on proposed increases in investment and customer bills. The regulator is currently scrutinising these plans, including looking at water companies’ ambition for customers and the environment and the affordability of plans for customers. The proposals could see bills increase significantly by 2030, […]

25 Oct 2023

Climate risk assessments that take account of threats like heatwaves, droughts, floods and wildfires are increasingly being used to inform and improve national adaptation policies according to the latest European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment of national adaptation actions published this week. The EEA briefing ‘Is Europe on track towards climate resilience? Status of reported national adaptation actions […]

25 Oct 2023

The BBC reports how hundreds of deliberately leaky dams made of wood have been installed along a stretch of river as an innovative measure to prevent flooding. Researchers from the University of Worcester said the dams could have a dramatic impact on flooding in places including Bewdley and Ludlow. During Storm Dennis, the dams along […]

25 Oct 2023

UKWIR (UK Water Industry Research) has published a new report: Review of 2022 Drought Demand Management Measures. This study sought to quantify the change in water use due to the implementation of drought measures during 2022 including the communication campaigns delivered by all companies and the Temporary Use Bans introduced by six water companies in […]

25 Oct 2023

The High Court in Cardiff last week agreed River Action’s challenge of the Environment Agency’s handling of agricultural pollution in the River Wye can proceed to court. River Action argued that by failing to prevent the spread of excessive levels of manure across agricultural land in the Wye river catchment, where high phosphorus levels in […]