The Times, i-news and the Daily Telegraph have all launched separate ongoing campaigns to tackle water pollution with a specific focus on pressing for action by the Government, water companies, alongside water sector regulators Ofwat and the Environment Agency.

The Times formally launched its Clean It Up campaign on Monday 13 February, saying it was launching the campaign “to rid Britain’s waterways of sewage and pollution." In addition, the newspaper contained four full pages of dedicated coverage, including articles entitled How the quality of nation’s waters became a dirty joke and Sewage pumped into brook for 95 hours in seven days.

The newspaper also ran a leading article entitled Clean It Up, saying, “The Times is launching a campaign to reduce the pollution of Britain’s waterways and compel the industry and regulators to act.”

The Times is calling for the Environment Agency to be given more powers to impose stricter penalties, including the ability to bring criminal proceedings against water company executives.

The newspaper also wants to see greater action by the water companies to tackle the issue of storm overflows. The Times describes the Government target to spend £56 billion by 2035 to tackle the problem as “the bare minimum” which must be accelerated.

The Times says the water companies should “curb their dividend payments to shareholders” to achieve this and, together with the Government, provide the funds to create “many more bathing sites in this decade.”

Leading environment campaigner Feargal Sharkey has thrown his weight behind the campaign.

In a separate article which accompanies The Times coverage, he writes:

“I hope our politicians start holding the likes of the EA and Ofwat, the economic regulator for the industry to account. Politicians need to completely, utterly restructure the whole environmental landscape of the industry. The existing approaches have failed. We need to introduce real penalties and sanctions to hold directors of water companies to account.”

i-news and New Scientist launch Save Britain’s Rivers campaign

On 10 February i-news Editor in Chief Oliver Duff announced that i.news and New Scientist were jointly launching the Save Britain’s Rivers campaign across the UK, saying the two publications will deliver a year of “news, hard-hitting investigations, in-depth features, films, podcasts and live events.”

In an opinion piece published on 9 February, he described Britain’s water companies as “pumping sewage into our rivers with impunity” saying “journalists can stop them.”

He added that the Environment Agency and Ofwat are “turning blind eyes – they are simply watchdogs without teeth.”

Telegraph launches Clean Rivers Campaign

The Telegraph newspaper launched its Clean Rivers Campaign on 13 January, saying “the water companies must clean up their act – and our rivers” and caling for “a national plan to clean up the nation’s waterways”.

Water sector now under sustained and ongoing focus in run-up to PR24

in the run-up to the upcoming Price Review in 2024, the water sector is undoubtedly set to remain under sustained and ongoing focus in the national and regional press, both online and in print.

The Guardian newspaper regularly publishes detailed articles on the challenges facing the water sector and the failings and shortcomings of the Government, industry regulators and the water companies to tackle the issue.

WaterBriefing separately monitors coverage in the regional press – with literally hundreds of highly critical articles published in the last 12 months.