Canada’s oil companies want permission to treat and release toxic waste from Alberta’s tar sands into the Athabasca River — the same river that flows into the drinking water supplies of First Nations communities. But many First Nations leaders say they’re already carrying an unbearable burden from the world’s fourth‑largest oil reserve, with health impacts that continue to mount.
One morning in Sandbach, a neighbour appeared at Graham Warner’s door with a large folder: a delivery, she said, from an unidentified source.
“I think you’ll find this very interesting. Happy reading,” she said.
Warner was checking into a planned housing development behind his home. But the folder contained astonishing material not about the development but about the golf course next door to it.
It’s being called Canada’s “Brexit moment.” Alberta’s premier has announced that a referendum will be held in October, asking voters in the province whether they wish to remain part of Canada, or begin the legal process of pursuing separation. Leana Hosea reports from Alberta on the origins of the movement, its legal status and why the possibility of secession puts the rights of First Nations communities in jeopardy.
https://theworld.org/segments/2026/06/01/ballot-initiative-in-alberta-could-undermine-canadian-unity
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w1730c5l1sxt6rl
Raw sewage from nearly 40,000 people and businesses is being pumped straight into the sea because the British overseas territory of Gibraltar does not have, and has never had, a wastewater treatment plant.
For decades, untreated sewage has poured into the Mediterranean from the southern tip of the peninsula at Europa Point, where the government of Gibraltar says there are “high levels of natural dispersion”.
The area is supposed to be protected for wildlife but often there are “wet wipes and plastic pollution entangled in algae and all over the rocks”, said Lewis Stagnetto, of the Nautilus Project, a local environmental charity.
Watershed detected genes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs in the UK’s largest lake, which supplies drinking water to about 40% of Northern Ireland.
Our testing of water from Lough Neagh, which has a surface area 26 times bigger than Windermere, found genes resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, including carbapenems – drugs reserved for life-threatening infections when all other treatments have failed.
The discovery comes as deaths linked to antibiotic-resistant infections are rising worldwide. Nearly 400 resistant infections are reported each week in England, with deaths linked to them reaching an estimated 2,379 in 2024, according to UK Health Security Agency data.
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes this antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as “one of the most urgent, complex and frightening health challenges of our time”.
The article was published in the Guardian:
Watershed spoke about the findings on BBC R4’s Rare Earth and BBC Northern Ireland’s The Nolan Show.
Illegal waste is piling up across the UK — with at least 8,000 rogue sites hiding 13 million tonnes of rubbish. That’s not just £1.63bn in avoided landfill tax, it’s also a massive loophole in environmental protection.
Rachel Salvidge
The Environment Agency has released England’s latest bathing water classifications and the headline, pushed by Defra, is that 87% of bathing waters are rated Excellent or Good. Ministers call this a “success story”. The Government press release talks about “cleaner rivers and seas”.
But behind the spin, the data tells a more complicated story. And when set alongside Watershed’s investigation into bathing waters with scientists at the University of York, citizen scientists, and Surfers Against Sewage, it becomes clear that the government’s testing regime needs work.
I’ve plotted the results on the Watershed Pollution Map, so you can see whether or not each site has improved year on year.
There is some good news. The number of excellent sites rose from 289 to 297, poor sites fell from 37 to 32, sufficient sites dropped from 29 to 25.
But when you consider that dozens of bathing waters remain badly polluted year after year, it seems less of a win…
| Bathing Water Name | 2025 Classification | 2024 Classification |
| Tynemouth Cullercoats | Poor | Poor |
| Littlehaven Beach | Poor | Poor |
| Scarborough South Bay | Poor | Poor |
| Wharfe at Cromwheel, Ilkley | Poor | Poor |
| Nidd at the Lido, Knaresborough | Poor | Poor |
| Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark | Poor | Poor |
| Sheep’s Green, River Cam | Poor | Poor |
| Wolvercote Mill Stream | Poor | Poor |
| Dymchurch | Poor | Poor |
| Littlestone | Poor | Poor |
| Worthing Beach House | Poor | Poor |
| Bognor Regis (Aldwick) | Poor | Poor |
| Southsea East | Poor | Poor |
| River Avon at Fordingbridge | Poor | Poor |
| Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach | Poor | Poor |
| Stoke Gabriel, Dart Estuary | Poor | Sufficient |
| Steamer Quay, Dart Estuary | Poor | Poor |
| Coastguards Beach, Erme Estuary | Poor | Poor |
| Dunster Beach | Poor | Poor |
| Blue Anchor West | Poor | Poor |
| River Tone at French Weir Park | Poor | Poor |
| Weston-super-Mare Uphill Slipway | Poor | Poor |
| Weston Main | Poor | Poor |
| Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay | Poor | Poor |
| River Frome at Farleigh Hungerford | Poor | Poor |
| River Teme in Ludlow | Poor | Poor |
| River Severn at Ironbridge | Poor | Poor |
| River Severn in Shrewsbury | Poor | Poor |
| Blackpool North | Poor | Poor |
| Haverigg | Poor | Sufficient |
| Derwent Water at Crow Park | Poor | Poor |
| River Ribble at Edisford Bridge | Poor | Poor |
And “Excellent” doesn’t always mean safe. The EA’s classification system is based on spot samples that miss pollution incidents and tests only for two bacteria (E.coli and enterococci), it averages sample results over four years masking critical details, it samples each site only around 15 times per bathing water season (May-Sept). It ignores a host of concerning chemicals, pharmaceuticals, superbugs and pathogens.
Watershed’s 2024 investigation, carried out with the University of York and Surfers Against Sewage, exposed widespread contamination at popular UK swimming spots, including officially designated bathing waters. The work was shown on ITV and in The Times.
Over a week of sampling, we found E.coli up to 22x higher than US safe limits, superbug genes that can lead to AMR and a broader chemical cocktails of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and PFAS.
The government says this year’s results arrive “as new reforms come into law”, including automatic de-designation after five consecutive Poor classifications and introducing flexibility for site-specific bathing seasons, which means that sites can apply to change the boundaries of their bathing season.
This is the “first shake-up in a decade”, according to Defra. But the reforms do not introduce testing for chemicals, pharmaceuticals, or resistance genes. They do not require testing after sewage spills. They do not bring UK standards in line with US, NZ or EU thresholds. This is why campaigners — and many scientists — argue they fall far short of what is needed.
A further reform, which will look at new bathing water criteria, will come into force in May 2026 to allow guidance to be fully developed.
rachel.salvidge@watershedinvestigations.com
The drinking water watchdog for England and Wales has ordered companies to act after “forever chemicals” linked to cancer and other conditions were found in untreated water sources at levels it said “could constitute a potential danger to human health”.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (Pfas) are a group of manmade chemicals used for their waterproof and grease-resistant properties. These forever chemicals persist in the environment, can build up in the body and some have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption and fertility problems. Two of the most notorious, PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) are now banned after being classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organization.
Britain is facing mounting pressure to ban mercury dental fillings, one of the few countries yet to prevent the practice, as new data reveals alarming contamination levels in the nation’s fish and shellfish.
Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can harm the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes, even at low levels of exposure. Its organic form, methylmercury, is particularly dangerous to unborn babies and can move through the food chain building up in insects, fish and birds.
Watershed evealed that vast quantities of toxic liquid from landfills are being mixed into sewage and spread on English farmland. The liquid, known as leachate, is generated when rain filters through waste dumps, creating a contaminated cocktail containing PFAS “forever chemicals,” dioxins, flame retardants, solvents, endocrine disruptors and microplastics. Around 3.5 million tonnes of leachate are produced each year in England, with more than 750,000 tonnes trucked into sewage treatment works.
Most sewage works are not designed to filter out these persistent pollutants. Instead, the leachate is given basic biological treatment alongside sewage before being released into rivers or bound up in sludge. This sludge—rebranded as fertiliser—is then spread on farmland across the country, exposing soils, crops and food chains to harmful substances that are poorly regulated or not regulated at all.
Sludge regulation still relies largely on 1989 rules focused on heavy metals. Campaigners, scientists and some insiders warn that the system fails to address modern chemical threats, while official monitoring remains patchy. The revelations highlight how landfill and wastewater management practices are combining to recycle industrial and household toxins back into the environment, raising urgent questions over food safety, regulation and public health. To read in full, click on the link below.
Four stories make up the investigation so far:
Thousands of tonnes of toxic landfill liquid added to sewage and spread on English farms‘
A Trojan horse’: how toxic sewage sludge became a threat to the future of British farming
Millions of tonnes of toxic sewage sludge spread on UK farmland every year
Environment Agency insider alleges ‘cover-up’ over sewage sludge on farmland