Author: Jess Neumann, Associate Professor of Hydrology, University of Reading

Howard Pimborough/Shutterstock After months of relentlessly miserable weather for most of the UK, spring brings renewed enthusiasm for spending time outdoors hiking, wild swimming, paddling or on walks. Millions of people visit lakes and riversides every year. Yet with constant, and sadly necessary, reminders about sewage and water pollution, it’s not surprising that people are […]

Flooding across the Somerset Levels in January 2026. Vortex525/Shutterstock Standing on the hills looking out across flat green fields, linked by a network of hedgerows, copses and small settlements, the Somerset Levels looks like quintessential English countryside. But this region’s rivers, drains, waterways and wetlands are integral to the levels’ history – an inhospitable, and […]