Today the Government is announcing its first steps to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.

1/4) Welcome first steps here. They *must* be just the first ones in a comprehensive programme of reform though. It’s crucial that steps like articles of association changes translate to licence conditions for companies & are regulated. That customer boards have real leverage.

Emma Hardy will be the 'floods' minister. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Or to put this another way, there will have been countless homes (and fields) that have been flooded in recent years, because of ridiculous dither and delay under the last Govt on #beavers Let's hope Defra UK approves wild releases very soon... bbc.com/news/articles/…

Although we haven’t yet seen the extreme rainfall events experienced by many locations across the globe, England has had the wettest year (July to July) on record. With the atmosphere now holding record amounts of water those extreme events are inevitable.

It’s clearly ridiculous that a water company discharging untreated sewage into our rivers in hundreds of locations can be described as industry leading and an exemplar. And it’s been ridiculous for years. theguardian.com/business/artic…

CIWEM's Alastair Chisholm and Catherine Moncrieff worked with Joanna Bradley to create a report that details the pollution from highway runoff across the UK and the problems that it creates - such as serious harm to aquatic life. Learn more 👇

Should have already been addressed by the previous administration. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

The health of swimmers & paddlers & needs of the many small businesses along the South Coast who rely on clean beaches to draw in customers, once again coming a distant second to the interests of a couple of big water companies.

Visited natural #flood #management schemes in Gloucestershire recently. Woody debris like this allows water through but holds some back during high flows. This reduces downstream flood peaks & also delays arrival of the peak, increasing time available to #prepare for floods.

Machine learning and modelling PFAS pollution in local waters - by school kids. Great project and amazing effort by these guys representing the UK - many congratulations! #stockholmjuniorwaterprize

Thoughts with our European neighbours right now. Going to be a huge operation to get some semblance of 'normality' on the other side. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Calling all my chalk-stream heroes🦸‍♂️ I need a site where a v busy highway discharges ➡️ a chalk stream with safe access u/s & d/s, not much pollution u/s and a Riverfly trained volunteer or 2. For a survey in April 25. Any suitable sites anyone? [email protected]

Want to learn more about our work & how are using nature to mitigate surface water flooding. Join CIWEM webinar on Thursday 19th September: ciwem.org/events/living-…

More great rewilding news 🙌 Half a million European flat oysters are being introduced back into the Humber estuary as part of Wilder Humber's five-year programme to help restore Britain's coastal waters from overfishing and pollution.  Read more: theguardian.com/environment/ar…

In this piece for Elaine Coles , CIWEM director of policy Alastair Chisholm discusses the Government’s plans to reform the water sector, as outlined in a recent speech by Secretary of State for Defra UK , Steve Reed. Read the full article 👇 waterbriefing.org/home/regulatio…

Remember, water companies, politicians, all you have to do to get that pesky Mr Sharkey off your back is address the whole London-about-to-run-out-of-water thing without utterly destroying every chalk stream in the process - this might be a good place to start.

So proud of this collaborative project... just one year in and it looks like it's been here forever 🤩 #ChalkStreams #NatureRestoration #CollectiveImpact

The miracle that is a restored #ghostpond in the middle of arable. This #pond was filled in >100 yrs ago & lost. We ressurected it back in 2015. It is now *ALIVE*. How many species can you see? You may even see fish. The most successful form of ecological restoration known!

150-250mm of rainfall in some locations in NE Italy in 24 hours. 100mm totals look widespread. Another extreme event.