IT’S BEEN a huge week for clean river campaigners, with the government announcing a water Bill that it loudly trumpeted will rid Britain’s rivers, seas and lakes of pollution.

But will it? And are the polluters quaking in their boots? As usual it is important to read the small print rather than get intoxicated by grandiose statements. Sadly, we don’t think that what is proposed goes far enough to fix the underlying issues of water pollution in Britain. We fear it will merely tinker at the edges of a problem that is crying out for root-and-branch change.

First, though, let’s start by acknowledging the change in tone from the newly elected Labour government. 

We are delighted and hugely relieved that finally after years of denial over the scandal of the pollution of our rivers, seas and lakes, we have got a government, and a secretary of state for the environment in Steve Reed who is prepared to come clean about the scandal of Britain’s filthy waterways. 

We believe they are genuine in their desire to try and fix the problem and welcome this after more than a decade-and-a-half of indifference from a Tory government hell-bent on serving itself rather than the country.

What we see before us, though, is a list of measures that will cost the government nothing and won’t fix anything because fundamentally the system is broken. Don’t be fooled by the media headlines of jail time for water polluters. No-one will go to jail for polluting our rivers.  

The wording of the Bill refers to the threat of prison for those who obstruct an investigation into law-breaking — a cover-up basically, not the act of pouring filth into a river.

The thing is, we don’t actually need any new legislation, the conception of which is primarily because it tested well with focus groups in the run-up to the general election. As we all know, the pollution of our waterways by greedy water companies has been in the press on a daily basis, so of course the politicians were bound to respond to shifting public mood and anger with headline-grabbing policies.

No. What would really move the dial and put the fear of God up the polluters is much less newsworthy. Simply, it is the robust and full enforcement of existing environmental laws.

The problem with this is that the severely cash-strapped, austerity-decimated Environment Agency does not have the capacity to execute a tougher enforcement regime — and no serious commitments have been made to provide any extra cash to the EA. What staff it has left are beleaguered, demoralised and run ragged, often having to resort to meaningless desktop investigations on pollution incidents.  

Meanwhile Ofwat, which is meant to regulate the water companies, allowed them to discharge 3.6 million hours of raw sewage into our waterways last year. It’s partly why only 14 per cent of the UK’s rivers are in good ecological health.

For any attempt to clean up our rivers to be successful, the government must instigate with immediate effect definitive reform of the failed regulatory system which allowed the pollution of our rivers to happen in the first place. 

This will require significant funding to repair and re-empower bodies like the Environment Agency. 

The government needs to go a lot further than the catchy soundbites we heard with the launch of the water Bill.

So it’s going to be up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to match rhetoric with resources to rid our rivers, seas and lakes of filth. Our environmental protection agencies must be properly funded and the regulators given back sharp teeth to send the clearest message — we will no longer tolerate corporate greed at the expense of clean water. Pollute at your peril because we are coming for you.

This is a huge moment for the government and it must seize it to fix one of the most visible (and smelly) manifestations of our broken country. Not to would be a betrayal of the millions of people who voted for change and renewal in the country, partly on a promise made by the Labour Party in the election campaign to get tough on the water polluters.

It is why thousands of people dismayed at the appalling state of Britain’s waterways will join the March for Clean Water in London on October 26. Groups as diverse as Extinction Rebellion, the National Trust and the Women’s Institute have backed the march.

Together we will send a clear message to Sir Keir Starmer: take immediate and decisive action to end the poisoning of our rivers, lakes and seas by the lethal cocktail of raw sewage, agricultural waste and other chemical pollutants, that over recent years have been allowed to leave most of our waterways so filthy that they present major risks to human health and untold damage to nature.

Trade union members, activists, lovers of clean rivers — join us! Pledge your support at the marchforcleanwater.org.
 
Charles Watson is chair and founder of River Action.