The UK's rivers are riddled with sewage pollution – new wetlands could help clean them up ( www.bbc.co.uk )

The Norfolk Broads in the east of England are famed for their rivers and lakes, rare chalk streams and wildlife. But it had been clear for some years to local people that some of the waterways were anything but pristine.

Just a few miles inland from the rolling sand dunes of Norfolk's coastline and the picturesque seaside town of Cromer, vegetation and wildlife in the upper River Mun were suffering. In the lake called the Little Broad, into which its waters flowed, fish were dying.

The cause, it turned out, was sewage pollution. The dumping of raw sewage in waterways is a widespread problem across the UK. The amount of raw sewage spilling into England's rivers and seas doubled in 2023, with 3.6 million hours of spills compared with 1.75 million hours the year before, according to the UK's Environment Agency.