Friends of the Dart, an independent nonprofit on Devon's River Dart, has launched River Hub — a real-time platform that tracks sewage spills overflow by overflow, maps capacity shortfalls at treatment works, and documents where remediation is planned and where it isn't. The group says it is the first platform to compile this level of granular, river-specific pollution data in Britain. Much of the underlying information is technically public but buried across fragmented sources, and some had to be extracted through freedom of information requests. The timing is pointed. South West Water was fined nearly £800m this week for sewage spills, including in Cornwall's River Camel. Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the Labour conference that water was a symbol of systemic failure and pledged to reverse Thatcher-era bans on public ownership of water companies. The Dart hub drops into a political moment where the structural rot of England's privatised water system is no longer deniable. River Hub goes beyond existing independent trackers like Top of the Poops by adding diagnostic layers. A 'Why it keeps happening' section assesses whether individual treatment works have capacity for their catchment populations — and concludes that some do not. A 'Who is fixing it?' section catalogues planned works with completion dates and, crucially, identifies problem sites with no remediation scheduled at all. A methodology section documents data sources including rainfall classification for dry spills — sewage discharges that occur without significant rain. Residents along the Dart describe the human cost with specificity. Emma Roberts was hospitalised with E. coli after swimming near a treatment works that FOD believes lacks sufficient capacity. Olivia Doherty's 17-year-old son Seamus suffered stomach problems after a swim. Ben Brierley, who runs kayak tours, says the hub could help him determine safe operating conditions for clients. The UK government's deadline for reducing sewage in bathing waters is 2035; for everywhere else, 2050. South West Water responded that its own WaterFit Live site provides near real-time storm overflow data and investment programme details. The Environment Agency noted that 100% of storm overflows are now monitored and cited a record £10.2bn investment over five years to improve more than 2,500 storm overflows in England. Neither response addressed the capacity shortfalls or missing remediation plans that the hub documents. The platform was built by Rob Worthington alongside his day job as a business analyst. The team acknowledges the picture is incomplete and invites corrections. They are offering the model free to any group wanting to replicate it for their own river, and allied organisations have already expressed interest. FOD's founding director Hannah Pearson noted that dedicated professionals within SWW and the Environment Agency want to do the right thing but are 'working in a dysfunctional system.' What makes this generative rather than merely oppositional is the design philosophy. The hub does not exist to shame — it exists to make invisible information visible so communities can participate in prioritisation. Worthington framed it as channelling justified anger constructively: showing where the problems are and why, so communities help decide what gets fixed first. The replicable, open-source model means the value compounds if adopted elsewhere.
