They're the government body behind the dreaded hosepipe bans. But the Environment Agency have come up with another way to save water – by deleting old emails. Historic messages and photos are stored in vast data centres which consume so much energy they require large amounts of water to keep cool. Now, the public is being urged to'play their part' to help reduce pressure on our water systems by having an email clear–out. The advice was issued as Britain endures its fourth heatwave of the summer. Five areas of England are currently officially in drought, with six more in'prolonged dry weather'.

Nearly 1,000 "dark discharges" of untreated sewage from two water company treatment plants in England have been detected by scientists using artificial intelligence to map spills. The use of machine learning to shine a light on the scale of pollution from untreated effluent being spilled into rivers could be a crucial tool in efforts to improve the quality of rivers, a paper says. Prof Peter Hammond, visiting scientist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, who co-authored the paper published in the journal Clean Water, used artificial intelligence to analyse data from two unidentified water companies' waste treatment works from 2009 to 2018. The AI identified 926 "dark discharges" – or previously unknown spills – from the storm overflows at the two treatment plants. Discharges of untreated sewage from storm overflows, or CSOs, are permitted only in exceptional circumstances, such as extreme rainfall, the European commission has ruled.

Citizen scientists searching aerial images while on coronavirus lockdown have uncovered dozens of previously-hidden Roman, prehistoric and medieval sites. Archaeological digs are currently on hold due to the pandemic but researchers have found roads, burial mounds and settlements - all while working from home. Researchers from the University of Exeter asked teams of volunteers to search through LiDAR images and aerial surveys to hunt for signs of ancient sites. Volunteer amateur archaeologists cross-referenced these topographical images of the Tamar Valley that highlight hidden features with historic maps of the area. Lead researchers Dr Chris Smart said they were'redrawing the archeological map of the South West' and getting a better idea of how areas developed over millennia.