The WATERSHED investigations

Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25. Watershed attended the sentencing and heard from the celebrity supporters Chris Packham, the wildlife TV presenter, Dale Vince, the head of Ecotricity green energy company, and TV chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.

In each episode, investigative journalists Rachel Salvidge and Leana Hosea bring you tales from the frontline of the water crisis, interviewing:

• Someone on the frontline of the water crisis.
• A world class expert, who can shed light on the causes and solutions to the issue in hand.

Find out more about Rachel and Leana's work at Watershed Investigations @WATERSHED_i

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feargal Sharkey tells Watershed's Rachel Salvidge why he's had enough of playing nicely in his quest to get water companies to stop dumping sewage in rivers and why he is now mobilising the masses to march on Parliament on Saturday 26 October 2024 to demand that industry and its regulators put an end to it.

WARNING: CONTAINS F BOMB AND S BOMB.

In each episode, investigative journalists Rachel Salvidge and Leana Hosea bring you tales from the frontline of the water crisis.

Find out more about Rachel and Leana's work at Watershed Investigations www.watershedinvestigations.com @WATERSHED_i

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When UPL's warehouse in Durban was set on fire in 2021, the toxic agrochemicals it housed washed into the river and out to sea, causing a huge marine die-off. Environmental Goldman Prize Winner, Desmond D'Sa, tells us how the catastrophe is still effecting locals, many of whom relied on the sea for their livelihoods.

Some of the pesticides were banned in the EU and numerous other countries. There's been no ongoing health monitoring, but one report showed the chemical inferno "more than doubled" the risk of heart disease and lung cancer. There has been no evidence of deaths directly related to the accident.

This is just one example of the catastrophes that can unfold when things go wrong, but some industrial complexes are polluting our seas as part of their day to day processes. We’ve recently published a couple of stories on this. One about the potential for mercury to be leaching out of abandoned oil and gas pipelines at the bottom of the North Sea:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/24/abandoned-oil-gas-pipelines-poison-pollution-risk-north-sea-scientists

Another about how long-banned and toxic substances called PCBs are still being manufactured in huge volumes as byproducts when other chemicals are made:

https://watershedinvestigations.com/industry-could-be-producing-more-cancer-causing-pcb-chemicals-today-than-at-any-other-point-in-history-despite-their-production-having-been-banned-more-than-40-years-ago/

So much of this chemical pollution in our oceans goes unmonitored. Elsie Sunderland, Professor of Environmental Chemistry at Harvard University, tells us how a new initiative - Back to Blue - seeks to address this problem.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The people of Gaza are on the frontline of a water crisis. Since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing 1200 Israelis and taking hostages, Gaza has been under unprecedented bombardment, killing more than 28,000 Palestininans, many of them children. Most of the population are displaced and living in unsanitary conditions, with soaring rates of infectious diseases linked to polluted water and lack of sanitation. Children in Gaza have barely a drop to drink, according to UNICEF.

In this episode Leana and Rachel examine the historic and current water crisis, speaking with:

Dr Shaddad Attili, lead Palestinian negotiator for water at the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Professor Alon Tal of Tel Aviv University, an environmentalist and water management expert, who has founded several Israeli environmental organisations and was recently a Member of the Knesset with the Blue and White centrist zionist coalition.

Professor William Schabas of Middlesex University, an international expert on human rights, international criminal law and genocide and was the head of a UN Committee investigating the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.

Professor Mark Zeitoun of the Geneva Water Hub, a policy institute which focuses on hydro-diplomacy to prevent and resolve water-related conflicts.

In each episode, investigative journalists Rachel Salvidge and Leana Hosea bring you tales from the frontline of the water crisis, interviewing:

Someone on the frontline of the water crisis who is experiencing first hand pollution/drought/floods/extinction events and diseases driven by climate change and bad management.A world class expert, who can shed light on the causes and solutions to the issue in hand.

Find out more about Leana and Rachel's work at Watershed Investigations @WATERSHED_i

Frequency: Fortnightly

Duration: Approx. 1 hour

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In these 10 minute briefings, investigative journalists Leana Hosea and Rachel Salvidge discuss the latest news developments. In this episode they explore the anger around the government's plans to discard protections for rivers against sewage and farm pollution. They also reveal the government's reduction in river testing.

Find out more about Leana and Rachel's work at Watershed Investigations @WATERSHED_i

Frequency: Ad hoc

Duration: Approx. 10 minutes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.