Swimmers, canoeists and other river users across England will be able to access nationwide real-time online maps of sewage pollution spills, a win for the news brand’s ‘Clean It Up’ campaign
All England’s private water companies will follow Thames Water’s lead by the end of this year, releasing live maps of 372,000 spills from storm overflows. This will the first time this sort of information will be provided on a national scale anywhere in the world.
The move represents a victory for The Times’ campaign to improve Britain’s waterways, part of which called for more real-time and accessible online information about water quality.
The government had initially set water firms a deadline of 2025 to provide data about storm overflow discharges. However, public outcry about the spills means the firms will meet the goal ahead of time.
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