WATERSHED partners with national and international media to run high impact articles and investigations focusing on all aspects of the water crisis: pollution, resources, over-abstraction, wildlife, public health, environmental justice, and the impacts of climate change
A major investigation focused on widespread pollution by ‘forever chemicals’ called PFAS. It launched on the front page of the Guardian and involved seven stories over three days.
Watershed has been shortlisted for a British Journalism Award for its work on PFAS forever chemical pollution.
PFAS found in hundreds of drinking water samples across England has been categorised as carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation. The move will increase pressure on the UK government to take action on “forever chemicals”.
The Environment Agency has slashed its water-use inspections by almost a half over the past five years, according to data obtained by Watershed.
Potentially toxic “forever chemicals” have been detected in the drinking water sources at 17 of 18 England’s water companies, with 11,853 samples testing positive, something experts say they are “extremely alarmed” by.
The government quietly released partial data on the health of England's water bodies, opting not to undertake any testing for problem chemicals, or to assess the condition of any groundwater, coastal, estuary or canal waters until 2025.
A scientific paper based on the Forever Pollution Project on PFAS was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters.
Rachel Salvidge gave a speech on chemical threats to rivers and seas at the Labour Party Conference, alongside shadow environment minister Ruth Jones and Francesca Ginley from the Marine Conservation Society at an event hosted by Labour's environment campaign, SERA.
England faces an ecological disaster if a severe drought strikes, with water companies turning to rivers to avoid drinking water shortages. Analysis of water companies' plans reveals huge shortfall in the case of severe drought if no action is taken.
Watershed's PFAS investigation was the subject of the award-winning BBC Costing the Earth documentary.
Acceptable levels of “forever chemicals” in drinking water should be reduced tenfold and a new national chemicals agency created to protect public health, the Royal Society of Chemistry has told the UK government.
A toxic cocktail of damaging chemicals created by road pollution is flowing into England’s rivers and no regulator is monitoring the scale of its impact on wildlife or public health.
Watershed is honoured to feature on the Lewis Pugh Foundation's River Warriors list of people who "dedicate themselves to restoring, protecting, recognising and defending our precious river systems".
Cape Town teeters on the edge of Day Zero - the time when water will no longer flow from its taps. Cape Town residents say they are desperate, and Professor Hannah Cloke says 'elites' are exacerbating the climate change driven water crisis.
Watershed appeared on BBC News to discuss raw sewage dumping into rivers and on a separate occasion to explain why the Office for Environmental Protection has announced that Defra, the Environment Agency and Ofwat may have all failed to comply with the law.
Pollution from farms has prevented housing developments being approved by 35 councils, analysis by The Times and Watershed reveals.
Exclusive: A chemicals company is releasing large quantities of a PFAS “forever chemical” described as being “very persistent, mobile and toxic” into the River Wyre in Lancashire each year, and is not breaking any rules.
Watershed worked with the Guardian and ITV News to expose high levels of E coli in oysters around the country. “Very high” levels of E coli found in oysters and mussels have led to the closure of 11 shellfish production zones in Cornwall.
Data obtained by Watershed Investigations shows PFAS 'forever chemicals' in England’s wild fish at high levels.
Watershed Investigations takes to the Thames for Sky News' Climate Show to talk about their investigations into PFAS pollution in drinking water, rivers, sediments and fish.
Rachel and Leana interview Nyombi Morris who was flooded out of his home in Uganda, where drought and locusts are also causing death and displacement. Then Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to prime ministers Blair, Brown, Cameron and May, explains how he plans to reverse the climate crisis by refreezing the Arctic.
Water is being overlooked in climate planning and funding, experts have said, despite half the world’s population facing acute water stress by 2030. The UN Secretary-General said “vampiric overuse” and pollution are draining the “precious lifeblood” while climate change is “wreaking havoc”.
More than 17 000 sites all over Europe are contaminated by the 'forever chemicals' PFAS, an exclusive, months-long investigation from 18 European newsrooms. Watershed sourced multiple datasets and performed its own sampling to build up the UK picture.
Tales from the frontline of the water crisis. Each episode includes an interview with someone experiencing the crisis first hand, followed by an interview with a world class expert, exploring the causes and possible solutions.
Pressure is building on UK ministers to tighten regulations on PFAS “forever chemicals” as Watershed's research shows vast numbers of people are drinking water with levels that would be banned in the US.
Water from a supply containing high levels of toxic chemicals was pumped into the homes of more than 1,000 people. Cambridge Water admitted it removed a supply containing four times the regulatory limit of perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), which was being blended with other supplies to provide water to the homes of customers in south Cambridgeshire.
Internazionale Magazine, the global current affairs weekly, picks up Watershed's PFAS work from the Forever Pollution Project. The article look at the most common sources of exposure to the potential consequences for human health and the environment.
Untreated sewage was dumped into England's rivers at least 372,544 times in 2021. Exposes of key elements of the sewage scandal, such as how the Environment Agency knew raw sewage was being illegally dumped into rivers, lakes and seas a decade ago.
A family that has been fighting for seven years to prove that hydrogen cyanide from a landfill killed their son received a boost when incident logs from Public Health England apparently backing their claims were uncovered, prompting a local council to commit to taking a fresh look at the land surrounding the family’s home.
Watershed looks at PFAS pollution and why the UK is lagging behind the EU and the US in tackling the problem
Water bodies are under stress from legacy chemicals, emerging pollutants, pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials, microplastics, industrial contaminants, nutrient overload and a lot more.
Pressures on freshwater resources are intensifying as a result of climate change, pollution and overuse. Who gets access to clean water, who owns it and how is it managed? Is there effective regulation in place and are rules being adequately enforced?
An ageing oil pipeline crossing part of the Great Lakes has led to a standoff between the US state of Michigan and Canada. The outcome of the battle over Line 5, which delivers energy to the US Midwest and central Canada, will be viewed by many as a bellwether of how North America will balance its energy future with its environmental commitments.
Armed only with facts and their illnesses, extraordinary citizens take on industry and government, risking arrest to protect clean water. From Flint to the Navajo Nation, via Standing Rock, this is their story.
In ENDS Report’s film 'SEVERN: The poisoning of Britain’s Amazon', Environment Agency whistleblowers, experts and people who live by and work with the river give their testimonies as to how the river has been allowed to deteriorate and the dire consequences for people and wildlife.
This is a watershed moment. Rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands, coasts, oceans and the wildlife they support are under threat from climate change, pollution and misuse. Drought, flood and sea-level rise makes swathes of land uninhabitable or unproductive. Two-thirds of the global population live in water-stressed areas. Water scarcity leads to conflict. Dirty water leads to dead zones and disease. And yet media coverage of these issues is light when compared with others.
That’s where WATERSHED comes in. Our independent, not-for-profit, investigative journalism shines a light on the water crisis in its many forms, using in-depth, rigorous, evidence-based stories hold the powerful to account, uncover abuses, tell overlooked stories, and champion solutions.
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