What This Summer's Drought Reveals About Our Relationship with Water

As drought conditions spread across much of the UK, rivers are shrinking, reservoirs are falling and millions of people are changing how they use water. Beyond the headlines and hosepipe bans lies a b...

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Future Homes Series Part 7: Powering the Future Home

Tomorrow's homes won't simply consume electricity. Increasingly they will generate it, store it and use it more intelligently, helping homeowners reduce costs while supporting a cleaner, more flexible...

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Future Homes Series Part 7: Powering the Future Home

Tomorrow's homes won't simply consume electricity. Increasingly they will generate it, store it and use it more intelligently, helping homeowners reduce costs while supporting a cleaner, more flexible...

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Future Home Series Part 6: Managing Every Drop

How Sustainable Drainage Systems, rainwater harvesting and water-smart design are helping tomorrow’s communities live alongside water, rather than simply trying to get rid of it.

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Britain Isn't Running Out of Rain. So, Why Are We Running Short of Water?

As more water companies introduce hosepipe bans following another spell of hot, dry weather, many people are asking the same question: if Britain is famous for its rain, why are we running short of wa...

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Future Homes Series Part 5: Where Does My Wastewater Go?

Every flush, shower and washing machine starts a hidden journey beneath our streets. As Britain builds the homes of the future, engineers are rethinking how wastewater is collected, treated and return...

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Future Homes Series Part 4: Where Does My Drinking Water Come From?

Every time you turn on the tap, clean, safe drinking water appears almost instantly. Yet before it reaches your kitchen, that water may have travelled for weeks, months or even years through rivers, r...

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Future Homes Series Part 3: How Does a Heat Pump Really Work?

Heat pumps don't create heat, they move it. Understanding that simple idea unlocks one of the most important engineering innovations shaping Britain's future homes and explains why these systems can d...

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The World’s Wackiest Rainwater Capture Innovations

From forests growing on skyscrapers to desert landscapes brought back to life, the world's most imaginative rainwater harvesting ideas prove that sometimes the strangest solutions are also the smartes...

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THE FUTURE HOME SERIES Part 2: Why Are New Homes Switching to Heat Pumps?

Walk around almost any new housing development and you'll notice a familiar sight disappearing. The traditional gas boiler is increasingly being replaced by an air source heat pump. But why has this t...

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THE FUTURE HOME SERIES: Building Britain's Homes for the Next Generation

A WaterMatters guide to the homes and communities of tomorrow. The Future Homes Standard represents the most significant change to the design of new homes in a generation. But the real story goes far...

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Investigation Series Part Three :Britain's Water at a Crossroads

Who Will Fix Britain's Water System? As Britain swings from floods to hosepipe bans, and Westminster wrestles with the future of Thames Water, one question has become impossible to ignore.

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The River That Came Back: How the Thames Went From Biological Dead Zone to Wildlife Success Story

Sixty years ago parts of the River Thames were officially declared biologically dead. Today seals, otters, seahorses and more than 100 species of fish call it home. Its recovery is not a fairy tale, n...

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Are We Building Homes Faster Than We Can Supply Water?

Britain needs new homes, but every new development brings additional demand for drinking water, wastewater treatment and drainage infrastructure. As housing targets rise and climate pressures intensif...

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Refill, Not Landfill: Why Packaging Choices Matter

Ahead of World Refill Day on 16 June, the Water Matters team visited Nothing But Footprints in Banbury to meet owner Dan Ludlow and discover how a simple change in the way we shop could help tackle on...

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Following the Return of the Beaver, we now have, The Return of the Water Vole

Once Britain's fastest-declining mammal, the water vole seemed destined to disappear from our rivers and wetlands. Yet against the odds, this small creature is making a remarkable comeback, offering h...

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Follow the Money: Why Are Water Bills Rising While the Pipes Keep Failing?

Water companies say higher bills are needed to fund the biggest investment programme in a generation. Yet as debt piles up, infrastructure failures make headlines and customers face rising costs, many...

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Swimming Through Sewage

Britain is encouraging people back into rivers and coastal waters for wellbeing and recovery. But after years of pollution, regulatory failure and collapsing public trust, many swimmers are left navig...

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Dirty Business: the true story of the sewage scandal. Part 2

As public outrage over Dirty Business grows, Tim Smedley reconnects with campaigner Ash Smith to examine the deeper questions still haunting Britain’s sewage scandal: who really regulates the regulato...

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The Thames Water creditors are closing in on a deal - urge your MP to stop them

An action to write to MPs urging them to reject the Thames Water creditors' attempts to takeover the utility, signing off on pollution till 2030

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Prescribed to Swim, Warned Not to Swallow

As GPs increasingly prescribe wild swimming to improve mental and physical wellbeing, Britain’s polluted rivers and coastlines are turning a simple act of recovery into a public health gamble.

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Dirty Business: the true story of the sewage scandal. Part 1

A retired detective, a polluted Cotswold river, and a regulatory system hollowed out from within. In the first part of this investigation, Tim Smedley traces how Britain’s sewage scandal grew from loc...

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The Crypto Mine Next Door: How Data Centres Are Gulping Britain’s Water

The UK’s digital boom is quietly becoming a water story. As Tim Smedley warned in last week’s Water Bankruptcy feature on WaterMatters, the country is edging towards a systemic crunch, and the hidden ...

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Have we entered the era of ‘water bankruptcy’?

A new UN report warns that we are no longer just facing water stress, but entering an era of irreversible “water bankruptcy”, where decades of overuse are collapsing the systems we depend on. What was...

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The Battery Beneath Our Feet: Could Britain’s Old Coal Mines Store the Clean Energy Future?

A viral claim suggests Britain has already turned hundreds of coal shafts into gravity batteries. The truth is more measured, but no less compelling: beneath our feet lies an overlooked opportunity to...

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Decoupling the Future: Why Britain Is Breaking Energy Bills Away from Fossil Fuel Prices

The UK is beginning to untangle electricity prices from volatile gas markets. If successful, the shift could mean more stable bills, fairer pricing, and a faster transition to clean energy.

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Rainwater harvesting for flood risk reduction

What if your water-butt could behave like a beaver dam, quietly holding back storms before they become floods? This week's guest author, Ari Cooper-Davis, explores how everyday rainwater systems can b...

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Water Smart: How AI Is Detecting Leaks Before They Happen

Predictive analytics, real-time sensors, and digital twins are helping water companies move from reactive repairs to proactive network management, cutting leakage and redefining operational performanc...

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