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14 news articles

Pipe discharging sewage

Sewage Discharges: England and Wales’ 2025 Annual Summary Data released

  • The Rivers Trust
  • News
Even in a significantly dry year, water companies still discharged untreated sewage into rivers, lakes and seas almost 400,000 times in 2025, for over two and a half million hours — spelling continued disaster for our waterways.

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Three sewage pipe ends are open to a river, their grates filled with wet wipes and rubbish

5 things the Sewage Map can tell you about pollution in your local river in 2026

  • The Rivers Trust
  • Blog
With 6 years’ worth of annual sewage data, plus live discharge updates, find out what The Rivers Trust’s interactive Sewage Map can tell you about pollution in your local river.

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View across the Thames to Westminster, Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben

Government’s Water White Paper: Welcome signals, worrying gaps, and vital work still to do

  • The Rivers Trust
  • News
The long-awaited Water White paper contains some positive steps to reform water management, but without significant new government funding it will not be the radical, transformational change that we hoped for or that communities, our environment and the economy need.

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Draining sewage from pipe into river pollution rivers

2024 Annual Sewage Spill Data: What does it tell us?

  • The Rivers Trust
  • News
This week, the summaries of the 2024 event duration monitoring on CSOs in England and Wales were released. Our technical experts dug into the data on raw sewage spills into our rivers so you don’t have to — and it’s not good news.

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pollution in river

The UK: The ​‘dirty man of Europe’ once again?

  • The Rivers Trust
  • Blog
The European Commission’s recent revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive provides a roadmap for an innovative, resource-efficient and sustainable management of wastewater. In comparison, the UK is falling short on chemicals.

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A cardboard fish is shown positioned above a cardboard protest sign

Join the shoal: How-to make your own March for Clean Water Fish

  • Emma Brisdion
  • Blog
At the March for Clean Water, we’re coming together to form a shoal and invite you to join us. Use the guide below to add a fish to the top of your protest sign to show that you’re standing up for our freshwater species.

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Five speakers on a panel sit at a long desk facing a room

Nature can help deliver the Government’s priorities

  • The Rivers Trust
  • Blog
At the Labour Party Conference 2024 in Liverpool, a panel of experts brought together by The Rivers Trust sought to answer the question ​‘How can Labour rescue Britain’s rivers without breaking the bank?’

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Sewer overflow in river

Press Statement: Response to Ofwat fines of £168m for three water companies

  • Rebecca Duncan
  • Press release
Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Northumbrian Water will be fined a combined total of £168m in relation to their management of waste water treatment works and the sewer network.

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Image of the Pont Alexandre III bridge on the River Seine in Paris

Olympic athletes in urban rivers: is it in-Seine?

  • Rebecca Duncan
  • Blog
With the eyes of the world on the French capital, we unpack the Olympic mission to make the Seine swimmable again.

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A grim green bath bomb dissolves in yellow water

Toxic Dips: The Rivers Trust launch the world’s most expensive (fake) bath bombs on eBay

  • The Rivers Trust
  • News
The three-piece set of ​‘Toxic Dips’ bath bombs is priced at £300,000, just 0.005% of the amount being spent to stop UK rivers deteriorating further over the next five years.

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