More River Pollution, More Anger

<p>Today, the Environment Agency reported a 60% rise in serious pollution incidents by water companies within a year.

There were 2,801 pollution incidents in England in 2024, the highest on record, up from 2,174 in 2023. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee called the situation “woeful” and said regulators were “missing in action.” The data comes ahead of a landmark review of the water industry, to be published on Monday. Adam is joined by Esme Stallard, Climate and Science Journalist, and Joe Crowley, Investigative Journalist who has made three BBC Panorama documentaries on the industry.

Also, doctors say eight UK babies have been born using genetic material from three people to prevent devastating and often fatal conditions. Adam discusses this with James Gallagher, Presenter of Inside Health on Radio Four.</p><p>You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers.

You can join our Newscast online community here: https://tinyurl.com/newscastcommunityhere</p><p>Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a whatsapp on +44 0330 123 9480.</p><p>New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1

Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Gabriel May. The social producers were Grace Braddock and Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.</p>