Shaun Warren

All Collections

Thames Water’s Offshore Empire: What We’re Learning This Week

As Britain grapples with crumbling infrastructure, polluted rivers and rising household bills, new revelations about Thames Water’s offshore financial structure are fuelling fresh outrage.

Shaun Warren

Sep 15, 2025

Data Drought: Why We Still Don’t Know Enough About Our Water

We live in an age of unprecedented information, where data drives everything from shopping habits to space exploration. Yet when it comes to one of the most vital resources on the planet, we are still in the dark.

Shaun Warren

Sep 11, 2025

Restoring Respect: How a Water Ceremony Helped Heal a Divided Community Post

Water has always been more than a physical necessity. Across cultures and throughout history, it has symbolised life, renewal and connection.

Shaun Warren

Sep 10, 2025

The Plastics Pipeline: How Microplastics Pollute Our Rivers

Plastic pollution has become one of the defining environmental challenges of our time. While images of ocean plastic islands and entangled marine wildlife dominate headlines, a quieter crisis is unfolding closer to home: the pollution of our rivers by microplastics.

Shaun Warren

Sep 9, 2025

Lake Powell on the Brink: Deadpool Dilema.

Lake Powell, the United States’ second largest reservoir, remains haunted by the spectre of reaching “deadpool”. This is the point at which water can no longer flow through Glen Canyon Dam to supply downstream users

Shaun Warren

Sep 1, 2025

The Road Ahead: Repairing Trust, Infrastructure and Our Relationship with Water

From crisis to commitment, where the Commission must take us next

Shaun Warren

Aug 20, 2025

Water Justice: Who Pays, Who Profits, Who Suffers?

A broken system that rewards some while leaving others behind

Shaun Warren

Aug 19, 2025

Turning the Tide: The Community that Restored Its River

When the water first turned murky and the fish disappeared, few in the village believed the stream could ever be clean again. Once a lifeline for wildlife and a favourite spot for children to paddle, the narrow waterway had become a neglected trickle choked with litter and algae. Yet against the odds, a small community and a group of determined conservationists brought it back to life.

Shaun Warren

Aug 15, 2025

The Trust Deficit: How the Public Lost Faith in the Water System

This is the sixth article in our series examining the findings of the 2025 Water Commission report. Today, we focus on an issue that cuts across every aspect of the sector: public trust.

Shaun Warren

Aug 14, 2025

Drought, Deluge and Denial: Water Resilience in a Warming UK

This is the fifth article in our series examining the findings of the Independent Water Commission’s 2025 report. Here, we focus on the UK’s vulnerability to climate extremes and ask whether the current water system is fit for the future.

Shaun Warren

Aug 12, 2025

Nature-Based Justice: Who Gets Left Behind When Green Solutions Gentrify?

As cities embrace green infrastructure to combat the climate crisis, not everyone is reaping the benefits.

Shaun Warren

Aug 7, 2025

Pipes, Plants and Pollution: Rebuilding Britain’s Water Infrastructure

This is the fourth article in our series examining the findings of the Independent Water Commission’s landmark 2025 report. Previous instalments have explored privatisation, regulatory oversight, and financial extraction. Today, we turn our attention to infrastructure: the hidden backbone of the entire system.

Shaun Warren

Aug 6, 2025

Follow the Money: Where Did the £85 Billion Go?

That is the estimated amount extracted from England’s water system by shareholders and affiliated entities since privatisation in 1989, according to the July 2025 Independent Water Commission report.

Shaun Warren

Aug 5, 2025

No Mow, Let It Flow: Councils Let Grass Grow to Save Water and Boost Biodiversity

Across the United Kingdom, a quiet revolution is taking place along our verges, parks, and roundabouts. Once the domain of meticulously trimmed lawns and neat flowerbeds, these spaces are being left to grow wild.

Shaun Warren

Jul 31, 2025

Regulators on Trial: Can Ofwat and Defra Be Trusted to Fix a Broken System?

Across the United Kingdom, frustration with the state of the water industry has been growing for years. From sewage spills in rivers to eye-watering executive pay at privatised companies, the public mood has shifted from unease to outright anger.

Shaun Warren

Jul 30, 2025

A Reckoning for Water: Inside the Landmark Commission Report on Privatisation, Pollution and the Public Interest

The scandal at the heart of England’s water system has finally broken into the mainstream. A new Commission report lays bare the staggering cost of decades of regulatory failure, mismanagement and unchecked profiteering.

Shaun Warren

Jul 29, 2025

Liquid Inequality: Who Really Suffers When the Water Runs Dry?

In the drought-stricken township of Makhanda, South Africa, residents queue with buckets for hours at communal taps. In California’s Central Valley, low-income farmworker communities rely on bottled water while nearby almond orchards receive priority irrigation.

Shaun Warren

Jul 25, 2025

When the Water Rises: Learning from the Texas Tragedy

In the early days of July 2025, Texas witnessed yet another devastating chapter in its long history with extreme weather. Torrential rainfall inundated communities from Houston to Austin, leaving neighbourhoods submerged, families displaced, and lives lost.

Shaun Warren

Jul 23, 2025

Eighty-Five Billion Pounds Down the Drain: The Water Scandal Drowning England

In a damning indictment of three decades of water mismanagement, the final report from the Water Commission has revealed a staggering truth: over £85 billion has been extracted from England’s water system by shareholders and affiliated parties since privatisation in 1989

Shaun Warren

Jul 22, 2025

Fête de l’Eau: Reviving France’s River Traditions

Continuing our series looking at the World's water Festivals

Shaun Warren

Jul 18, 2025

A Pipe Dream: Why Millions in the UK Still Can’t Trust Their Tap Water

When most people in the UK turn on their tap, they expect clean, safe drinking water—nothing more, nothing less.

Shaun Warren

Jul 16, 2025

Green and Blue: How Developers Can Meet Biodiversity Net Gain with Better Water Design

For decades, urban expansion in the UK has often come at the expense of nature. Habitats paved over, wetlands drained, watercourses boxed into culverts, all in the name of growth.

Shaun Warren

Jul 14, 2025

Hosepipe Ban Hits Yorkshire: What It Means and What You Can Do

Britain has entered the summer of 2025 with an all-too-familiar headline: a hosepipe ban. Yorkshire is the first region to impose restrictions this year, with Kent and Sussex expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.

Shaun Warren

Jul 11, 2025