Rob Windscheffel

The secret sewage ‘illegally’ dumped into rivers and seas Data obtained by Channel 4 News shows water companies across the country appear to be illegally using emergency overflows to discharge sewage into rivers and seas.

The secret sewage ‘illegally’ dumped into rivers and seas
www.channel4.com/news/the-sec...

I slightly hoped someone would create this.
Combining the water company data to create a map of current sewage releases across England - You've gotta feel for Somerset/Devon/Cornwall at the moment 💩
www.sewagemap.co.uk

I'm not sure "mayhem" is quite justified as a headline when you see the photo !

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has arrived to give evidence at the Thirlwall Inquiry which is examining events at the Countess of Chester at the time of Lucy Letby.

Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust has announced it’s moving off the X platform saying it’s due to
“recent changes to the platform which no longer align with our Trust values”

To be fair to DEFRA the bathing water details were announced 10 days ago. It's just taken me a little while to get round to going through them in detail.

The one newly designated river location that was given a rating was the River Stour at Friars Meadow - rated as good.
It did, however, have one Ecoli reading of over 10,000 which was discarded due to an "abnormal situation"

This, however, is interesting when you look at the example of the River Wharfe at Ilkley. Which was designated as a bathing site 4 years ago. It’s been rated as poor every year.

Defra says the poor ratings are understandable;
“up until that point they hadn’t been monitored or managed for bathing. For us to create a plan and work to improve a bathing water site, we first need to understand what’s going on and that’s what starts in the first year of designation “

Almost all newly designated bathing water sites for river locations across England have been graded as poor and unsuitable for swimming.
10/11 locations were given the lowest rating
7 had an Ecoli reading in the year above 9000
That’s 10 times the level needed to be given a rating

Apparently New Zealand’s captains have won the coin toss at this ground 17 times in a row.
The chances of that are
1/131072
(I’d be checking the coin !)

2024 Statistics on English coastal and inland bathing waters: A summary of compliance with the 2013 bathing water regulations

Bit of light reading for those interested in water quality. The Government's released the bathing water status for 2024.
The number being rated as poor has doubled in a year.
2021 - 4
2022 - 12
2023 - 18
2024 - 37

www.gov.uk/government/s...

The shocking reality of how quick rivers can burst and surge through a town flooding streets, homes and businesses.

English National Opera unveils plans for Manchester after move The English National Opera has unveiled its first plans for Greater Manchester, including a UK premiere of a five-hour immersive production by Philip Glass.

English National Opera unveils plans for Manchester after move
www.channel4.com/news/english...

HMS Albion and Bulwark to be axed as part of Healey's cost-cutting drive The vessels are among what the Defence Secretary said were six outdated capabilities to be taken out of service, including 14 Chinooks.

When the news makes you feel old. Navy ships being decommissioned and described as “ageing”
I reported on them being launched !

www.forcesnews.com/services/tri...

The current weather on the Cat and Fiddle Road (A537) in Cheshire.
I suspect the snow is going to mean the closure of the usual cross Pennine roads at some point this evening.

Data released under EIR show's just 3% of emergency overflows operated by United Utilities currently have their releases monitored. How many they do have to monitor is currently being negotiated as part of the PR24 agreement.

At the time I had to fight to get those figures - and it was still a fraction of what was actually being released.
Turns out in 2024 we’re still not getting the full picture - new FOI/EIR coming soon.

Lake Windermere – why swimmer health could be at risk in World Heritage waters It's England's largest natural lake and a world heritage site, with bathing waters classed as 'excellent’ by the Environment Agency. But campaigners say Windermere's water testing regime isn't up to t...

Including the iconic Windermere.

www.channel4.com/news/lake-wi...

Calls for urgent action over pharmaceuticals found in rivers in National Parks A study seen by Channel 4 News reveals the levels of some drugs including antibiotics, heart medicines and paracetamol found in rivers in English national parks, are high enough to change fish behavio...

And the areas we imagine should be protected are at risk

www.channel4.com/news/calls-f...

Do we know true scale of pollution in UK waters? Is our bathing water more polluted than we think? We've seen documents which show that almost twice as many English bathing waters would fail pollution tests - if the regulator wasn't legally allowed ...

It’s been a hard slog.
Fighting for the facts and figures
www.channel4.com/news/do-we-k...

900,000 hours of human sewage and rainwater flow into UK rivers in just one year – revealed Untreated sewage is being released into rivers across England and Wales - perfectly legally - and campaigners are calling it a 'dirty little secret'.

It’s 5 years since we started looking at what’s in our water.

www.channel4.com/news/900000-...

I do like a good starter pack. It’s the equivalent of follow Fridays in the early days of that other social media thing.

Could I be added. Been a journo looking into water quality for seemingly forever. Ta.

Ok. So how does this one work. Is it basically like the one whose name we don’t mention.
Or is there anything different/good ?