Image credit: barnyz, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
In the wake of the Cunliffe Review and rising demand for transparency and collaboration across the UK’s water sector, The Rivers Trust and Additive Catchments have announced a national partnership to strengthen river recovery and environmental resilience.
The rivers advocacy group said the aim was to equip communities, regulators, and utilities with the trusted data and information needed to restore river health at scale. The Rivers Trust will use the nationally held real-time data from Additive Catchments’ CMaaS® platform, including upstream and downstream monitoring of combined sewer overflows, to engage with communities through its 60+ Member Trusts, enabling more locally targeted decisions to be made on river restoration and water governance.
The partnership combines The Rivers Trust Movement’s local presence and catchment expertise with Additive Catchments’ national-scale digital monitoring and diagnostic infrastructure, enabling both system-wide assessment and localised identification of restoration and protection solutions.
“This is a pivotal moment for UK rivers,” said Mark Lloyd, CEO of The Rivers Trust. “We need better diagnostics to understand the root causes of problems, and we need shared tools to act together. This partnership is about turning insight into action, from the catchment up.”
From monitoring to mobilisation
The partnership builds on the UK’s national Section 82 programme of the Environment Act, the world’s largest catchment monitoring initiative, and reflects the public’s demand for independent, transparent and trustworthy sources of river data. Additive Catchments provides real-time diagnostics across entire river systems, linking high-frequency sensor data with early warnings, public dashboards, and compliance-grade reports.
Rather than operating as a stand-alone technology, the solution is designed to be shared, trusted, and publicly beneficial, with The Rivers Trust helping ensure the insights are used meaningfully on the ground, including with their citizen science networks.
“The Cunliffe Review calls for a new era of transparency and public confidence in how we manage water. This partnership responds directly to that call – not by building another reporting layer, but by creating infrastructure that joins the dots.” said Rob Passmore, CEO of Additive Catchments. “With The Rivers Trust, we’re connecting real-time diagnostics with trusted local delivery, so that everyone, from regulators to citizens, can see what’s happening and act with confidence.”
Strengthening delivery through trusted partnerships
The partnership is underpinned by a wider delivery network, including Additive Catchments’ work with Google Cloud and Capgemini, that ensures technical excellence and scalability. Additive’s solution is cloud-native, secure, and built to integrate data from diverse sources, such as sensors, satellite imagery, the Met Office, Environment Agency and other public datasets, delivering actionable insights to a broad range of stakeholders, including water companies, landowners, farmers, and local communities, ensuring everyone sees the same picture and can contribute to a shared recovery plan.
“We’re proud to collaborate with Additive Catchments to address one of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges,” said Maureen Costello, Vice President, UKI and SSA at Google Cloud. “This is a clear example of how cloud technology, applied responsibly, can support large-scale ecosystem resilience and foster greater public trust.”
“This collaboration reflects Capgemini’s commitment to working with high-potential ventures that drive sustainability and digital transformation. By combining Additive Catchments’ innovative platform with our expertise, we aim to help water companies take control of this critical challenge and deliver on their regulatory and environmental responsibilities,” said Rob Walker. Managing Director of the UK Business Unit, Capgemini. “2025 is a pivotal year for the UK’s water industry, and we are proud to contribute to a solution that addresses this national priority.”
Building a civic foundation for long-term stewardship
The Rivers Trust said the partnership will help operationalise the River Health Index – a new measure for public trust, combining environmental data with community sentiment, designed to track legitimacy and progress in water governance. With 64% of people saying they trust water data more when it comes from an independent source, the collaboration will help translate monitoring into meaning, and insight into credible, shared action.
“This partnership is about long-term commitment, grounded in trust and guided by data,” said” said Rob Passmore and Mark Lloyd: “Together, we are setting a new standard for river stewardship in the UK – one that supports thriving ecosystems, stronger communities, and a legacy of clean, resilient waters for generations to come.”
The Rivers Trust is the umbrella body for the Rivers Trust network, providing support with fundraising, advocacy and knowledge-sharing. Through our network of over 60 local Trusts in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and with over 500 dedicated specialists including over 60 farm advisers giving confidential expert advice, we work in partnership at a catchment scale to make our shared vision of wild, healthy, natural rivers, valued by all a reality.
