Brighton seafront was awash with hundreds of local families, swimmers, paddle boarders and beach-lovers of all ages on Saturday morning, participating in a UK wide protest against the quality of our waters.
Organised by the charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), ‘paddle-out against sewage pollution’ was one of 30 such protests at local beaches and rivers throughout Britain. SAS is calling for an end to the sewage discharges which are having a devastating impact on ecological and human health.
Anger about poor water quality
Although the atmosphere was jovial, anger about the wilful neglect of the UK’s water infrastructure was palpable. People brandished home-made placards – Stop Poo-lluting our Seas, Species not Faeces, No motions in our Oceans – or carried paddleboards scrawled with slogans such as Tides Without Turds. Men wandered around wearing poo costumes and one woman had covered herself in the very realistic-looking content of her toilet bowl!
Giles Bristow, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage talked about the real choice British people and visitors have to make between risking swallowing raw sewage or foregoing a dip in the water.
On the Brighton beach, Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes spoke to the crowds about the beauty and wonder of marine life and was clear that all three of the main players in this situation – the government, the regulators and of course the water companies themselves – need to clean up their act. To rousing applause, she said: “We need to raise our voices to demand the water companies and the government prioritise the health of our seas and ourselves over profits.”
Protesters feel that the tide is with them as 2024 is a crucial year. Not only is it an election year – and local Parliamentary candidates Sian Berry for the Greens and Tom Gray for the Labour Party could be seen in the crowds – but also, next month, in June, the regulator OFWAT will deliver recommendations on water companies’ investment plans for the next five years. SAS argue OFWAT needs to do far more to hold the water companies to account. Giles Bristow said:
“We’re calling for plans that are ambitious enough to end sewage pollution in high-priority nature sites, and the waters we surf, swim and paddle in, by 2030…we won’t tolerate this broken system any longer.”
Broken water system
Rivers, too, are suffering. Britain was publicly humiliated in April this year when the global headlines after the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race focused more on the E.Coli infections picked up from the water during training than the race itself. Tests near Hammersmith Bridge, which is located on the course, showed the average level of E. coli was nearly three times higher than the Environment Agency’s quality standards for bathing in inland water.
The Times this week reports that there were more than 100,000 fish deaths linked to sewage pollution in England’s waterways last year, a three-fold increase.
There is growing acknowledgement that Margaret Thatcher’s sell off of the entire water infrastructure to private companies 35 years ago has not served the British public well. Although some countries have contracted out the management of water services, no other country has gone down the path of selling off the infrastructure of such a crucial resource. At least 70% of our water is now in pension funds and private equity firms in countries such as Australia, Canada and Abu Dhabi.
Southern Water is the company responsible for the quality of seas in Kent, East and West Sussex, Isle of Wight and Hampshire. It made headlines in 2021 when it was fined £90m for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into our seas. The extent of its criminal behaviour made for shocking reading, and Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson who sentenced the company expressed hope the record fine imposed would act as a deterrent to other companies.
Measuring is not enough
Jo Godden of South Coast Sirens told Sussex Bylines that the group, with 1.6 thousand members on Facebook, are “incensed” by the current situation and are dedicated to holding Southern Water to account. Volunteers have organised their own testing to measure pollution. She explained people have lost trust in the water companies “marking their own homework”. Indeed, many local groups believe measurements are manipulated to disguise the true extent of pollution. Crucially, testing and measuring needs to be accompanied by action.
Robbie Lane from Holiday Park Guru has taken another approach to highlighting the state of our beaches. Using official Environmental Agency (EA) data, his group has awarded Brown Flag awards to beaches which score a poor rating in water quality tests. In Sussex, Aldwick near Bognor Regis came 10th out of thirteen beaches selected for this award. Robbie explains:
“We’re hoping to make a real splash in the papers with the launch of England’s first ever ‘Brown Flag awards’! Commiserations to our thirteen winners this year – you really are top of the plops.” Just 52% of Sussex’ beaches are rated excellent by the EA’s own criteria.
With national and local campaigns, and so much attention and anger about water pollution, maybe the tide is finally beginning to turn and regulators will at last use their powers to insist water companies put their customers before their shareholders. Let’s hope so.
