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Sewage in your local rivers

See six years of treated and untreated discharge data across England and Wales, alongside near real-time sewage alerts for England and Scotland, on our Sewage Map and stay informed about sewage in your local waterways.

Visit our Sewage Map
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Wild, healthy, natural rivers, valued by all.

Healthy rivers are essential to human life, they provide us with drinking water, they water our crops, they are home to important species of wildlife, they provide recreational spaces for our health and wellbeing.

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0% good overall health

0%

of all rivers in England and Northern Ireland are classed as 'good overall'.

Natural barriers

99%

of British rivers have artificial barriers obstructing migrating fish

Species decline

83%

decline in freshwater species globally since 1970

1% of the earth

1%

of the earth's surface is made up of freshwater ecosystems, yet they provide habitat for 100,000+ species

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See what you can do to save rivers and help communities thrive.

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Get informed

River in drought

Drought and water scarcity

Many people don’t even realise that the UK and Ireland experience drought; after all, we’re known for our rain! However, it only takes a few sunny days to dry our vulnerable rivers to the point that they virtually disappear, with disastrous consequences for wildlife and river ecosystems.

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Raw sewage in our rivers

Sewage is discharged into rivers across the UK and Ireland on a daily basis. This isn’t an isolated problem; it occurs up and down the country, affecting urban city centre rivers and pristine chalk streams alike.

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Take action

Whether you can’t wait to get your hands dirty while cleaning up rivers, or you’d rather support us from the comfort of your own home, there are lots of ways you can support our work to restore rivers.

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State of Our Rivers

The race to climate resilience will be won or lost on rivers – and right now we’re losing.

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Latest news

View across the Thames to Westminster, Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben

Government’s Water White Paper: Welcome signals, worrying gaps, and vital work still to do

  • The Rivers Trust

The long-awaited Water White paper contains some positive steps to reform water management, but without significant new government funding it will not be the radical, transformational change that we hoped for or that communities, our environment and the economy need.

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Hand in blue glove holding test tube with river in background

Tackling chemical pollution of freshwater: The need for a strategic approach

  • The Rivers Trust

Dr Rob Collins, Director of Policy and Science and Chemicals Lead at The Rivers Trust, discusses the growing threat from PFAS, microplastics, pharmaceuticals and pesticides, and highlights the need for stronger control at source, better monitoring, closer EU alignment, and a national chemicals strategy to tackle pollution in our freshwater ecosystems.

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Person in waterproof jacket and high vis vest using a test tube to monitor a river

Launching our Annual Conference 2026: Grounded in Data

  • Rebecca Duncan

Connecting evidence and communities for smarter land and water management

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