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.
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.
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.
The site of a former film studio has been investigated as a possible source of “forever chemicals” found in groundwater, a water company said.
In 2025, about a fifth of Britain’s plastic waste exports still went to non-OECD countries, with shipments to Malaysia – now the UK’s third-largest destination – rising by almost 60% since 2024. Pua Lay Peng, a Malaysian activist who campaigns against the influx of foreign plastic waste and the resulting pollution, said: “This is waste colonialism.”
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.
England is the only country in the world with a fully privatised water system, and it shows. After a decade reporting on sewage spills and regulator failures, I’ve watched a slow-burning pollution crisis turn into a full-blown scandal.
Watershed uncovered a string of toxic pollution hotspots across Cumbria and Lancashire, with high levels of the banned cancer-causing “forever chemical” Pfos detected in rivers and groundwater at 25 sites.
From dry taps and flooded homes to collapsing coastlines, water crises aren’t freak events. They’re the predictable result of years of regulatory failure, ignored warnings and a system that does not know who is using our most vital resource.
Water-related violence has almost doubled since 2022 and little is being done to understand and address the trend and prevent new and escalating risks.
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