Ignore the Government spin. The recommendations of the Cunliffe Review are simply putting lipstick on a pig and fall pitifully short of the radical reform that’s needed to end the sewage scandal. So, Prime Minister, don’t take us for fools. If you let the water companies keep raking in profits at our expense, you not only risk losing public trust but the confidence of your own MPs.
For 35 years, our water system has put private profit first, and the consequences for public health and the environment are evident for all to see. More than £74 billion extracted for shareholders, a debt mountain of £69 billion, and sewage dumps beyond measure. This is a legacy of environmental and economic carnage that successive governments, and our regulators, should be truly ashamed of. And yet Sir Jon Cunliffe and Steve Reed appear to expect us to believe that this system can somehow be patched up with a few cosmetic tweaks? It cannot.
What good to replace Ofwat with a new regulator if the finance and ownership structures at the heart of the crisis stay the same? You can bet the champagne is flowing in water company boardrooms across the land at today’s news. (Take note of the smoke under the heels of the industry body, Water UK, seemingly screaming to endorse the report’s findings.)
We refuse to stand by and let environmental devastation continue to be a cash cow for investors. The truth is that everyone in our country has been impacted by this crisis. Coastal communities, who rely on tourism, have seen their economies hammered. Inland towns and cities are suffering the stench and decay of dying rivers. And overlaying it all, widespread public illness, an encroaching fear of our wild waters and soaring water bills. No wonder people are angry.
No wonder people are angry - we’re scared of our own water
But we believe the solution is simple, and it's a belief shared by our friends at River Action, WWF, Greenpeace, GMB Union and 35 more civil society and environmental organisations who signed our open letter to the Prime Minister last week. Only a full, systemic transformation of the water sector that puts the public good at the heart of our water services can deliver an end to sewage pollution. And ending sewage pollution is exactly what Keir Starmer pledged that his government would do.
The Commission’s report is not totally without merit. Given the narrow framing he was handed by DEFRA, Sir Jon does put forward some sensible steps (how could he not, when starting from a system as broken as this?). Calls for a comprehensive national strategy is essential. Regional water system planning authorities would help democratise decision making in the industry - however these must have power over the water companies, or they risk becoming little more than talking shops. And new powers to secure ‘long term, low risk’ investors are necessary to avoid a resurgence of profiteering. But can the failed profit-hungry model of the current industry deliver the restoration of our waters? We aren’t convinced. Because the bottom line is that for the sewage scandal to end, we must also see an end to a system driven by profit.
And that's why, on a fundamental level, I believe the Commission has failed. But activists and campaigners like us are optimists, so we will not lose heart. Our collective efforts, from paddle-out protests to petitions, local action to national exposés, have put the profiteering polluters of the water industry under intense pressure and now they’re on the ropes. This is not the time to pull our punches.
We want to see life return to rivers that have been choked by sewage pollution.
So yes, this Government is proposing to do more than those before them, but we won’t cheerlead half-measures. Because we see further than the next news cycle. Our goal is to end sewage pollution so that the UK’s coastlines, rivers and lakes can run clean once again and we won’t stop until we achieve it.
We want to see communities impacted by the stain of dirty water recover. We want to see life return to rivers that have been choked by sewage pollution. We want to simply be able to jump in the surf when the waves are pumping, without having to check for sewage alerts or put our health at risk. We want children to be able to paddle in the sea without risking a bacterial infection. Is that too much to ask?
Sewage pollution is in the spotlight like never before. The window for change is wide open and the public is hungry for action. We can’t let this moment slip. Change won’t be easy. But it never is. Now it’s over to the Government to show true backbone, because toothless tinkering and PR spin is simply not enough.
It’s time to re-plumb the water system so that public benefit comes before profit. Anything less will leave us doomed to the vicious cycle of the last 35 years: pollution, empty promises and then polluting again, with the public paying the price.
So, our question to the Prime Minister and Steve Reed is simple: if you fail to end the sewage scandal, do you think the electorate will forgive you?
Giles Bristow is CEO of Surfers Against Sewage
