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Independent journalism on water, public health and the environment

WATERSHED partners with national and international media to run high impact investigations covering all issues affecting the freshwater and marine environment.

Scientists call on ministers to cut limits for ‘forever chemicals’ in UK tap water

Scientists call on ministers to cut limits for ‘forever chemicals’ in UK tap water

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.

Watershed at Labour Party Conference 2023

Watershed at Labour Party Conference 2023

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. 

Unmonitored toxic road runoff polluting rivers

Unmonitored toxic road runoff polluting rivers

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.

Government slammed over sewage pollution

Government slammed over sewage pollution

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.

PODCAST: Drought, flood and re-freezing the Arctic

PODCAST: Drought, flood and re-freezing the Arctic

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.

PODCAST: ‘It’s killing us slowly’: water rationing in Cape Town

PODCAST: ‘It’s killing us slowly’: water rationing in Cape Town

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 makes 2023 Rivers Warriors list

Watershed makes 2023 Rivers Warriors list

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".

Fury as national health check of England’s waters faces six-year wait

Fury as national health check of England’s waters faces six-year wait

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.

BBC and WATERSHED win coveted science prize

BBC and WATERSHED win coveted science prize

Watershed's PFAS investigation was the subject of the award-winning BBC Costing the Earth documentary.

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