Update · 2 October 2026
Five months in: what River Truth now holds
When River Truth started in May, it showed one thing: whether a storm overflow's monitor said it was spilling. Five months on, the public record behind each river is much fuller, and all of it is free to read.
Every water company, live. Monitoring feeds from all ten operators in England and Wales, now including Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water's 2,359 overflows, plus Hafren Dyfrdwy's 54 from its annual register. That's 16,716 storm overflows in one place.
184,865 spill events recorded since 6 May, each kept with its history. When a published record changes, the earlier version is kept, not overwritten (9,393 so far).
Five years of annual returns. 72,168 returns from 2021 to 2025, as the companies reported them to the regulator, so today's figures sit next to each site's past.
Rain and river levels alongside every spill. Readings from 9,083 Environment Agency stations, so each spill can be read against the rain that fell before it and what the river was doing.
Permits and lab results. 25,351 discharge permits from the Environment Agency's public register, lab results from 66,415 sampling points, and the EA's ratings for 38 inland bathing waters.
Coming next: placing every overflow on the river it actually flows into, using Ordnance Survey's river map. That's being switched on this week.
Why it matters. A council clerk, an angling club or a swimmer can now see the same record the regulator works from, in one place, for free. More of the record in the open means less argument about what happened.
Thank you to the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Stream and the water companies for publishing open data, to The Rivers Trust and Ordnance Survey, and to everyone who has sent us a report.