There are many of us across England and Wales who have opened our water bills and glanced at the payment breakdown only to be jolted into annoyed sarcasm. “Really?” you say to the water company’s logo. “I’m paying you to dispose of sewage, am I? And how is that working out for us all?”
In 2023, sewage spills in England increased by 54% from the previous year, according to the Environment Agency. A study also released in 2023 showed that enough raw sewage to fill 4,352 Olympic swimming pools was released from 30 water treatment works in one year. And yet shareholders must still be paid: analysis conducted by the Financial Times showed that UK water companies paid out £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up £540m from the previous year. There are news items every day: swimmers are told to sign up for water-quality alerts; paddling children and triathletes contract vomiting bugs. Local Facebook groups – such as one for the River Severn, near where I grew up – share stories of vile smells and videos of strange froths. When I see talk online about its condition it feels like a personal affront: how could someone do this to my river? Meanwhile, the River Lea, the Thames tributary closest to where I live now, is described as “dangerously polluted” with “high levels of faecal E coli”. The river valley is one of my favourite parts of London, but I wouldn’t want to fall in, let alone swim.
