WATERSHED Investigations

South East Water fined £22.5m for ‘repeated supply failures’ in Kent and Sussex Regulator says failures that hit nearly 300,000 customers made worse by utility’s failure to maintain efficient supply system

South East Water has been warned repeatedly by regulators, over a period of 4 years, that it was at risk of supply failure & needed to act to protect water resources in order to keep the taps on.

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www.theguardian.com/business/202...

ITV News 'Water firms across South repeatedly warned by regulators about supply risks, new documents show' picture of water tanker, subtitled 'South East Water, one of the companies which was warned, has used tablets to address supply shortages in Kent'. Credit: ITV News Meridian

In January, ITV News reported on documents obtained by Watershed Investigations showing repeated warnings to the water company to act to prevent the sort of water outage that occurred this winter:

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Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications

As we've previously reported, climate change is driving shifts in groundwater levels even in rainy England, with many parts of the South & East likely to become increasingly dry, & some areas already water-stressed:

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Map of UK, part of Greenland, Europe, Africa, Antarctica and parts of Asia and Middle East showing which regions are growing wetter, which drier around the world.

Climate change is making some parts of the world drier, others wetter, driving water stress, water bankruptcy, water-related conflict & migration around the world. You can explore how your region is affected using our Water Security Atlas:

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Scottish Forestry acted unlawfully in development that posed risk to butterflies The northern brown argus butterfly was on the government agency's own biodiversity list

Scottish Forestry acted unlawfully in development that posed risk to butterflies...

news.stv.tv/scotland/sco...

South West Water admits criminal offence over Devon parasite outbreak Firm admits supplying water unfit for human consumption after nearly 150 people fell ill

South West Water admits criminal offence over Devon parasite outbreak.

Water unfit for human consumption, 150 people fell ill.

SWW already has nearly 200 criminal convictions. Licence not cancelled, no exec prosecuted, record high customer bills, sewage dumped in rivers.

Privatisation is a scam.

UK must double down on renewables as wars drive up energy costs, experts say Fossil fuel price surge after US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompts calls to end dependence on ‘volatile’ energy source

UK must double down on renewables as wars drive up energy costs, experts say

UK slashes climate aid programmes for developing countries Exclusive: Schemes worth hundreds of millions of pounds to protect biodiversity and oceans likely to be substantially reduced

UK climate programmes worth hundreds of millions of pounds have been in effect axed due to budget cuts, while others have been significantly reduced in scope, the Guardian reveals.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The sea is higher than we thought and millions more are at risk, study finds A new study in the journal Nature says most sea level rise research may have underestimated coastal water heights by an average of 1 foot or about 30 centimeters.

“You have a lot of people here for whom the risk of extreme flooding is much higher than people thought’' - @alevermann.bsky.social comments on a new study showing that baseline calculations for coastal water levels have been underestimated in a majority of studies.
apnews.com/article/sea-...

This week, EU lawmakers will resume discussions on whether to censor how to talk about plant-based food... we’d rather they stop spreading confusion.

There’s #NoConfusion.
#YesVeggieBurger

Osmosis, the other other renewable energy I’ve been writing about renewable energy for twenty years, and just this week discovered that there’s a whole other kind that I didn’t know about. This is the climate nerd equival…

Osmosis, the other other renewable energy – The Earthbound Report earthbound.report/2026/03/05/o...

China's five-year plan: doubling down on green but walking back emission targets China’s five-year plan for 2026-2030 is out. The plan is highly supportive of clean energy across the board, but still refrains from setting strong measurable targets for reducing emissions or fossil ...

China's five year plan for 2026-2030 is out - what are the implications for energy and emissions? Here are my observations.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinas...

UK must double down on renewables as wars drive up energy costs, experts say Fossil fuel price surge after US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompts calls to end dependence on ‘volatile’ energy source

“The UK’s failure to [pivot to homegrown clean energy] has left people on ordinary incomes paying the price.”

Europe's strategy worsened the last energy shock. Now, European leaders support a war that may cause the next one.

Our briefing in @theguardian.com 👇
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Worth noting that despite frothing at the mouth of various right-wing media outlets in UK, the decision by Ed Miliband to go ahead with over 8GW of offshore wind in the recent renewables auction now looks a sensible bet

One of few ways UK can reduce economic risk from instability in Middle East

Dirty water, death and decline: the inside story of a privatisation scandal There is no end in sight to the pollution caused by a ‘broken’ system. Experts say it could even be getting worse

“Prof Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to clean water, has singled out the English system for criticism, saying water should be managed as a publicly owned service, rather than run by private companies set up to benefit shareholders.”
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

make that £2.2 billion and the water companies might take notice; anything less, it's just the cost of doing business (badly)

Promising biodiversity recovery in the Yangtze River Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Published online: 03 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s44358-026-00145-1Promising biodiversity recovery in the Yangtze River

New online! Promising biodiversity recovery in the Yangtze River

Grid investment is rising fast. BloombergNEF reports record spending in 2025 of 470 to 483 billion US dollars, up 17 percent on 2024. That is the second year of double digit growth.

This reflects structural change: more renewables, electrified transport & heating + rising demand from data centres.

South East Water faces £22m fine for supply failures The firm was unable to cope during high demand, Ofwat says, leading to

“South East Water is facing a £22m fine by the industry regulator for "multiple supply disruptions" between 2020 and 2023 which caused residents in Kent and Sussex "immense stress and anxiety".”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Lobbyists send legal threats to councils over anti-wood burner campaigns At least eight councils receive legal threats alleging flyers criticising wood burners are in breach of advertising codes

"Straight from the playbook of tobacco".

The Stove Industry Association has been pressuring councils to tone down their public health campaigns, telling them they were exploring options for potential legal action.

This stinks even more than the burning they promote. #WoodBurning #AirPollution

The growing threat of domestic wood burning stoves—and industry’s legal attempts to shut down clean air campaigns As public health officials warn about rising emissions from urban wood burning, a BMJ investigation finds that just under a third of councils in high use areas have faced pressure from the stove indus...

Industry should not be trying to stop councils from communicating the facts.

The health effects of burning are widely known.

Modern stoves are not the answer: some emit MORE tiny particles of soot, carbon and cancer-causing chemicals than older stoves.

Non-essential burning has to stop.

Responding to the DEFRA wood burning consultation — Mums for Lungs Read our guidance on how to respond to DEFRA’s wood burning consultation - deadline 19th March. This is a critical moment to get your voice heard by the government.

The government is consulting on reducing emissions from burning right now. But the consultation does not match the health evidence. It deals with future emissions and will do nothing for the current situation that blights neighbourhoods.

Respond by 19th March asking for action on current burning!

East Devon council recognises 'rights of rivers' to protect environment A bid to better protect a Devon district’s rivers has secured unanimous backing and made the council behind it at the forefront of such efforts.

Big news for East Devon’s rivers!💧

East Devon County Council has voted to recognise the rights of rivers - an important step towards treating rivers as living systems that deserve protection, not exploitation. 👇

#RescueOurRivers

www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/2589550...

Author of 'When Oil Causes War', Professor Jeff Colgan, says the commodity makes the world less stable and more dangerous.

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UK must double down on renewables as wars drive up energy costs, experts say Fossil fuel price surge after US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompts calls to end dependence on ‘volatile’ energy source

"UK must double down on renewables as wars drive up energy costs, experts say"

Meanwhile, the non-experts in Reform and the Tories would have us hooked to expensive fossil fuels for decades more. Don't vote for these idiots.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Dec-Feb was the 2nd warmest winter for the Contiguous U.S. according to ERA5 Reanalysis. 31% of the Contiguous U.S. had their warmest winter on record (since 1940), 53% were much above average, and only 1% was much below average (both compared to the 1991-2020 baseline).

Only 35% of the Contiguous U.S. had a Dec-Feb average temperature below freezing. ☹️

Winter climate stripes time series for the Contiguous U.S.

Well, Ofwat says 'the fine would be paid by the company and “won’t show up on customers’ bills”' whereas Feargal Sharkey says, “These fines rarely if ever get paid, shareholders rarely if ever take money out of their pockets to pay them and invariably water companies negotiate some sort of deal".