River Action is proudly independent. We don’t take money from the Government or polluters, so we can hold power to account without fear or favour. If charities are relied upon to clean up the mess from polluting industries, the system is failing. Our priorities are clear: 🚫 Stop pollution at source ⚖️ Enforce the law 💥 Hold polluters accountable Polluters must be investigated and prosecuted. Real deterrence depends on the real risk of criminal sanctions, including substantial fines and, in serious cases, custodial sentences. Anything less risks turning environmental damage into a cycle that is managed, not prevented. #RescueOurRivers #EndSewagePollution

🌎🌊 World Oceans Day 2026: healthy oceans start upstream. Rivers are the arteries of our planet, linking land to sea. When our rivers thrive, our oceans are better able to thrive too. 📢 This #WorldOceansDay, take action for your local waterway and help protect the ocean it flows into. ⏱️ It only takes two minutes to write to your councillor and call for stronger action on river pollution: bit.ly/3REu7jX

Latest news from the campaign to save the Wye. Rights of Nature, record temperatures and how to get involved, all on World Environment Day: mailchi.mp/e4cff23b8b0c/gath…

This is more evidence of Britain's failing civil service. Like other quangos, the @EnvAgency is unaccountable and too-often incompetent. Long on excuses, short on results. There are so many cases of Britain's failing state. It is a HUGE problem. @TiceRichard

Why is Sadiq Khan @MayorofLondon breaking his promise to make London’s rivers swimmable? One of the most eye-catching promises the Mayor made to get elected, was to make London’s rivers swimmable. But halfway through his term he has made no progress towards this goal, & seems to be quietly dropping this goal on the basis that it isn’t achievable. However, as a guardian of London’s third biggest river, who knows the river better than most, I know it is a completely achievable goal with effort & imagination. Further, the volunteer charity I run put forward a detailed plan to make the Roding swimmable, which was rejected by the Mayor’s Grow Back Greener fund without explanation. Here’s a thread, on how the Mayor can live up to his promises 🧵

🌍 World Environment Day 2026 We cannot have a healthy planet without healthy rivers. Rivers provide drinking water, support wildlife, nourish our landscapes and connect communities to nature. Yet across the UK, they are being treated as dumping grounds for sewage, agricultural pollution and industrial waste. If we want thriving wildlife, climate resilience and healthy communities, we must restore and protect the rivers that sustain them. This World Environment Day, take action for your local river. Write your councillor and urge them to support stronger action to tackle river pollution. ⏱️It only takes two minutes. Contact your local councillor today: bit.ly/3REu7jX #RescueOurRivers

"The March for Lough Neagh showed people are ready to stand up for our environment. Now, we must turn that momentum into a movement powerful enough to put people and planet above profit." Read our latest blog, "Save Lough Neagh: An Unprecedented Crisis Deserves an Unprecedented Response", written by Pádraig Mac Niocaill from @saveloughneagh and discover why this moment demands bold, collective action.👇 riveractionuk.com/news/save-…

🚨 Our rivers are in crisis - and local councillors can help change that. Following recent local elections, now is the perfect moment to make sure our elected representatives know that clean, healthy rivers matter to their communities. 💧 Email your local councillor today and demand urgent action to #rescueourrivers. ⏰ It takes just 2 minutes, and together we can send a clear message: we won't stay silent while our rivers are pushed to the brink. Every voice counts. Every email matters. 📢 Take action now: bit.ly/3REu7jX

A huge congratulations to our Head of Campaigns, @AmySlack_1 , for being named in the ENDS Power List 2026! 🎉🎉 Described as a "force for positive change" and "an absolute joy and inspiration to work with", Amy has been recognised for driving systemic change through bold, creative campaigning: bit.ly/3PC0Vty This recognition is thoroughly deserved. We're incredibly proud to have Amy leading the charge for healthier rivers and stronger environmental standards. 💙🌊 #ENDSPowerList #RescueOurRivers

The River Wye has just made UK history. For the first time, an entire river catchment has been formally recognised as a living ecosystem with rights - including the right to flow, thrive, regenerate, and be free from pollution. It's a major victory for nature.

Season 3 The Last Salmon dropping Monday. Don’t miss it podfollow.com/the-last-salmo… @MattHayesfish @AilsaMcL @HugoSAS @marinagibson25 @comicsonthefly @ActivistAnglers @DaleVince @SalmonScotland

⚠️As the nation swelters in record-breaking temperatures, England is sleepwalking into a water crisis. Months of scarce rainfall, dried-out ground unable to absorb water, rivers running low, wetlands shrinking and aquifers already under pressure - all before summer has properly begun. But here’s the truth: Britain is not short of rain. We are short of political imagination, investment and leadership. READ MORE: express.co.uk/news/uk/221010…

On the hottest May day on record yesterday, I finally got to visit the most urban beavers in Britain at the Ealing Beaver Project & was frankly blown away by witnessing nature’s finest engineers close hand. Billed as a ‘Beaver Safari’, I was surprised that the meeting point was outside a McDonalds next to a main road. This surprise continued when I discovered that not only were we allowed into the beaver enclosure but that the enclosure was also a public park with a cycle route running through. The beavers had got so used to humans that just the day before a beaver who had recently given birth was spotted dining on a delicious blackthorn branch just feet away from a bench where people were sitting in the park. We weren’t quite so lucky, but did see a beaver swim through a pipe under bike path & then haul itself out to cross their beaver dam to go downstream. The beavers are not only a magical creature to witness though. They produce a cascade of environmental benefits. Their dams have raised the water level creating an amazing wetland home to reed warblers, water fowl, numerous bat species & wood peckers. Their dams help humans too by filtering urban pollution, alleviating droughts reducing flooding downstream. The wetlands they create also act as a giant air conditioning unit, cooling the city around it and reducing the urban heat island effect. This project really shows that not only can humans & beavers live alongside each other, they can actively benefit each other as well. We now need to release natures engineers in rivers and wetlands across London so they can get to work building their dream homes, which make the city better for us humans too.

Bank holiday weekend at Teddington Beach ☀️ Hundreds enjoying the Thames – right beside the proposed sewage pump site. This river is for people, wildlife and future generations. Sign the petition. 💧

🚨 An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed the shocking scale of 'mega-dairy' farms across the UK. Beef and dairy farming are responsible for 75% of the most serious agricultural pollution incidents - yet intensive livestock farms still face far weaker regulation than other polluting industries. River Action is calling for environmental permitting to be extended to beef and dairy farms, but regulation alone is not enough. We also need policies that support farmers so they are not forced to intensify in the first place. It’s time for proper oversight, accountability, and urgent action to protect our rivers from #agripollution. thebureauinvestigates.com/st…

The River Wye has become the first river in the UK to claim cross-border rights from source to sea - a landmark declaration that rivers are not drains for pollution, but living ecosystems worthy of protection, respect, and a legal voice. @SaveTheWye @RiverActionUK

An historic day, as the River Wye becomes the first river in the UK to have its rights recognised by local authorities across its catchment. Hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the river to watch as representatives from Monmouthshire, Forest of Dean & Powys Councils, Herefordshire County Council, the Wye Valley National Landscape & Bannau Brycheiniog National Park signed the pledge recognising the rivers rights and then spoke about why they had done so what it would mean for the relationship of their organisation to the river. It went beyond legal formalities into something of a service of thanks & honour to the river, with poetry, a choir singing songs, & offerings to the river. It has been a real honour to witness & be part of the surging movement towards river rights & guardianship on the Wye. Four years ago I met & advised Herefordshire Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, who wanted to put a voice of the river on the Wye Nutrient Management Board. A year ago I sat around a fire on the banks of the river with other Wye guardians & Earth lawyers as the idea of a charter was first mooted. To see it become a reality, & supported by 6 public bodies, in just a year is astonishing. Now, of course, comes the hard work of making those rights a reality. But given the hundreds of active river guardians, & increasing public pressure to protect & restore the river, if it can be done on any river, it will be done on the Wye.

Today is World Fish Migration Day, a global celebration of the extraordinary journeys migratory fish make. And no creature captures that wonder quite like the European eel, one of nature's most remarkable travellers. Spending years in freshwater rivers, streams, and even ponds, it eventually embarks on an almost unimaginable journey of thousands of miles to the Sargasso Sea, near Bermuda, to breed. Hear more about the European eel and why its numbers are dwindling fast in the latest episode of Rewilding the World where I’m joined by Joe Pecorelli from the Zoological Society of London. @OfficialZSL