If you’re here from a Flood the Streets card, welcome. The card comes from the March for Clean Water in London on 3 November 2024, when thousands of people filled the streets to demand action on water pollution. World of Water was there. But the march was one day, and this page is about the rest of what we do.

The march

Organised by River Action with Feargal Sharkey and partner organisations, the march called for an end to raw sewage discharges, less agricultural and chemical run-off, tougher regulation, investment in sustainable water management, and a bigger role for communities as stewards of their local water. We joined it as part of our World Clean Water Campaign, which carries on.

Why a water charity marches

Water runs through our bodies, our food, our homes, our industries and our beliefs. So a tap, a fishing net or a jar of river water can lead you to farming, history, science or someone’s own story. That’s why we’re called World of Water. We’ve been sharing water stories since the late 1970s, in several ways:

• Collecting. Objects, photographs, documents, recordings and memories about water, in our Collection Galleries.
• Exhibiting and telling. Exhibitions from Wet Harvest in Birmingham onwards, and live storytelling.
• Publishing. Books for early readers, characters like Tapman and Pluggy, and free downloads such as our Space Adventure.
• Teaching. Our field centre programme and outreach work with schools and groups.

Where industry, farming and nature meet

Farming, fishing, energy, manufacturing and tourism all depend on water, as do the rivers, wetlands and wildlife around them. Their needs and effects differ, and sometimes conflict. We want to help people with different jobs and views discover the connections, understand the consequences and find opportunities to work together.

Where this is heading

We’re developing the International Water Awareness Centre, or IWAC, from an idea we first called the Water Palace. It’s a way of connecting collections, data, stories and people, so that following one thread leads you into many others. You can read more in Why we need IWAC.

Find your way in

• Working on rivers or floods? Try Rivers.
• Farming or land management? See Water in Food Production.
• Interested in pollution and monitoring? Start with Water Quality and Water Measurement.
• Teaching or learning? Look at Water Education.
• Just curious? Wander through the Collection Galleries.

Join in

• Tell us a water story, or share an object, a photograph, some research or knowledge of a local river.  Contact us.
• Volunteer. See Volunteering at WoW.
• Support the charity through donations or membership.
• Subscribe to new posts using the form at the bottom of this page.

Thousands marched because water matters to them. Come and tell us why it matters to you.