The vote by MPs last week in the House of Commons against amending the Environment Bill to stop water companies dumping raw sewage into Britain’s rivers is the target of ongoing and widespread criticism in the press and on social media.

A new database that contains important information on trace chemicals found in treated wastewater has gone live and, in a water industry first, is being made publicly available for anyone to access.

Southern Water is currently in the process of a major project to manage the Bewl and Medway river systems In Kent to keep southern England’s largest reservoir at Bewl topped up in winter to release back in to the rivers over the summer.

The multi-award-winning Upstream Thinking partnership is expanding work to improve water quality in the region's rivers with a new five-year programme.