Save Britain's Rivers

As Britain’s youngest national newspaper, The i Paper has a uniquely fearless approach, and its campaign to stop rivers from being polluted by sewage will change the law.

For the past year, our Save Britain’s Rivers campaign has drawn cross-party support, backing from all major conservation charities and resulted in genuine policy change. Our dogged reporting has exposed how water companies are dumping illegal sewage in our waterways – and held politicians and utility firms to account.

The i Paper investigations have revealed water company wrongdoing and regulator incompetence. This includes an exclusive story revealing the locations of thousands of hidden sewage overflow points.

The story challenged the Government’s claim at the time that all sewage spills were being monitored. Following publication of the story, the Labour Party’s general election manifesto included a pledge to extend monitoring to all the areas revealed in The i Paper’s investigation: a genuine public policy change.

Other scoops published by The i Paper this year include the front-page story that the Environment Agency was failing to attend 90 per cent of water pollution incidents in England, including 60 per cent of the most serious incidents.

We also broke the scandal that water companies had potentially broken the law 5,500 times last year by spilling sewage without a permit.

When the general election was called in May, The i Paper ramped up its campaigning by publishing a front-page story calling on all the main parties to commit to a five-point manifesto to Save Britain's Rivers.

The manifesto was published with the backing of over 20 major green groups – including UK conservation charities - and celebrity campaigners. The manifesto immediately received support from the Liberal Democrats and Green Party plus backing from the National Trust - the UK’s biggest conservation charity representing 5.7million members.

Our tireless campaigning during the election has achieved major policy wins, which are now being enacted by the new government. The Liberal Democrats have pledged to introduce a Save Britain's River Bill to pressure the new Government to take action.

Shortly after the election, The i Paper was the first paper to report the new Labour Government’s plans to tackle the crisis. Labour’s announcements so far have included some significant wins for The i Paper’s campaign, including plans to tighten regulation of water companies and increasing monitoring of sewage spills.

In October, the Government announced a major review of water sector regulators, fulfilling one of the key policy asks in The i Paper's manifesto. Announcing the review, the Environment Secretary Steve Reed paid “tribute to i’s tireless campaigning for clean rivers” and said the review “is a huge win for the paper”.

The i Paper's coverage continues to put pressure on the Government to strengthen its commitment to tackling the crisis and meet all five manifesto pledges. Our campaigning will continue until Britain’s rivers become safe havens for swimmers and nature alike.