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EXPLAINED: 2 - The Real Truth

Thousands of environmental breaches by water companies uncovered in record checks

IN FULL

The Independent UK

Water companies accused of more than 3,000 environmental rule breaches

The Environment Agency completed more than 10,000 checks of water company assets in the past year

The Independent UK

More than 1.87m hours of sewage spills in 2025 as drier weather cuts pollution

The Environment Agency figures show there was an average of 20.5 spills per overflow outlet, compared with 31.8 in the previous year.

Evening Standard

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Untreated sewage spilled into English rivers, seas and lakes once every two minutes in 2025

There were 291,492 sewage spills in 2025, a decrease from 2024’s figures

The Independent UK

‘Seriously wrong’: flood-hit Lincolnshire residents at odds with Reform MP over climate

Constituents’ frustration with Richard Tice reflects growing problem for party and its leaders’ climate-sceptic stance

The Guardian - UK

Environment Agency too weak to tackle illegal waste dumping, MPs say

Regulator for England lacks powers to deal with what the public accounts committee calls an ‘out-of-control plague’

The Guardian - UK

Drinks mixer firm’s profits slump amid Environment Agency battle

The premium drinks firm is challenging the Extended Producer Responsibility packaging tax

The Independent UK

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Fever-Tree profits knocked by £2.8m packaging tax provision

The soft drinks and mixers firm reported underlying earnings of £42.4 million for 2025, down from £50.7 million in 2024.

Evening Standard

People in North Yorkshire town found to have ‘alarming’ levels of toxic Pfas chemicals in blood

Exclusive: Testing in Bentham, home to UK’s highest recorded Pfas levels, finds one in four have blood levels in greatest risk category

The Guardian - UK

Fly-tippers could be forced to clear their own rubbish under new crackdown

Fly-tippers could soon find themselves conscripted into "clean-up squads", tasked with tidying the very areas where they have illegally dumped waste, under new government proposals.

The Independent UK

Thames Water lenders float new £10bn rescue plan

Latest effort involves paying off fines worth hundreds of millions of pounds as part of bid to stave off financial collapse

The Guardian - UK

UK government plans police-style powers for Environment Agency to crack down on waste crime

The UK government is considering granting enforcement officers of the Environment Agency (EA) police-style powers to strengthen the crackdown on waste crime, including fly-tipping and illegal dumping, ministers announced ahead of the upcoming Waste Crime Action Plan.

The Times of India

England’s sewage scandal hinges on lack of water industry regulation – new docudrama reveals how profit drives pollution

A new three-part factual drama, Dirty Business, highlights the murky world of the English water industry. This Channel 4 docudrama follows the lives of two concerned citizens from Oxfordshire in south-east England: a retired police detective called Ash Smith and a retired university professor called Peter Hammond, who is an…

The Conversation

Dirty water, death and decline: the inside story of a privatisation scandal

There is no end in sight to the pollution caused by a ‘broken’ system. Experts say it could even be getting worse

The Guardian - UK

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The Independent UK

Voices: ‘A national disgrace’: Readers fume over the UK’s sewage crisis exposed in Dirty Business

YOUR VIEWS: Our community has responded to Channel 4’s show with anger and frustration, highlighting years of sewage pollution, regulatory failure, privatisation, corporate greed and environmental mismanagement, while calling for urgent action to protect rivers, public health and ecosystems

Evening Standard

Fly-tipping cases jumped nearly 10% last year to new highs, council data shows

There were almost 1.26 million incidents recorded by local authorities in England in 2024/2025.

The Independent UK

Dirty Business creator on raw sewage scandal: ‘This is the worst possible situation we’ll accept without starting a revolution’

Joseph Bullman’s shocking Channel 4 series explores two ordinary men’s extraordinary 10-year fight against British water companies

The Guardian - UK

Yorkshire Water fined over £700,000 for repeated sewage releases

Company admits three pollution events that killed fish and insects in Pools Brook country park near Chesterfield

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International Business Times UK

33 Drones, Laser Mapping and New Software: The Crackdown on Waste Crime Just Escalated

The UK government enhances its fight against waste crime with drones, laser-mapping, and digital screening, aiming to deter offenders and improve prosecutions.

Evening Standard

Harbour-dredged mud used for ‘remarkable’ restoration of protective saltmarsh

Eroding saltmarsh around Lymington Harbour being restored in innovative scheme that could be replicated elsewhere.

The Independent UK

New ‘drones squad’ to gather evidence at illegal waste dumps

This new aerial surveillance initiative aims to bolster efforts to track and prosecute environmental offenders

Evening Standard

Thames Barrier to shut as heavy rain poses risk of flooding 'for another month'

There are currently 65 flood warnings, where flooding is expected, and 179 flood alerts, where it is possible, in place across England

The Independent UK

Unsettled weather set to continue for another month, forecasters warn

There are currently 65 flood warnings, where flooding is expected, and 179 flood alerts, where it is possible, in place across England.

The Guardian - UK

The death of Heather Preen: how an eight-year-old lost her life amid sewage crisis

In 1999, Heather Preen contracted E coli on a Devon beach. Two weeks later she died. Now, as a new Channel 4 show dramatises the scandal, her mother, Julie Maughan, explains why she is still looking for someone to take responsibility

The Guardian - UK

One in nine new homes in England built in areas of flood risk, study shows

Figures from Aviva also show number of homes being built in risky areas is on the rise

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